GIOVE-B (Galileo In-Orbit Validation Element) was launched by a Soyuz rocket from Baiknour on 27 April 2008, carrying the most accurate atomic clock ever flown into space at that moment.
The 500 kg satellite was left into a circular orbit at an altitude of 23,173 km, inclined at 56 degrees to the Equator, 3 hours and 45 minutes after the launch. It makes a complete journey around the Earth in 14 hours and 3 minutes. Read more…
The Baikonur Cosmodrome was the first space launch facility to be built (1955) and it is the largest in the world. Located in the desert of Kazakhstan, 90 meters above sea level, it was originally built by the Soviet Union for their space programs. Currently it holds numerous commercial, military and scientific missions. Read more…
It was on 28 December 2005 when the fist Galileo satellite GIOVE-A (Galileo in-orbit validatión element – A, formerly known as GSTB-V2/A), was placed in orbit at an altitude of 23,260 kilometers by a Russian Soyuz rocket that lifted off from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Read more…