Hoisting of upper composite

Soyuz VS06 upper composite, Gaia space observatory, was transferred to the pad and installed inside the mobile gantry on 14 December 2013.

Soyuz VS06 will lift off on 19 December 2013 from Europe’s Spaceport, French Guiana.

ESA’s Gaia mission will produce an unprecedented 3D map of our Galaxy by mapping, with exquisite precision, the position and motion of a billion stars.