Sneaking into space...

In the last few months, a series of what have become non-events took place. And JEMA is proud to be a part of these non-events.

On 19 May 2026, at 00:52 local time, a Vega-C rocket lifted off from Europe’s spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. Beyond the liftoff itself, the mission went very smoothly. SMILE, a Sino-European scientific satellite developed with the Chinese Academy of Sciences, reached its orbit with the required precision, from where it will study the interactions between the solar wind and Earth’s magnetic shield. You’re welcome, SMILE.

Naturally, the fact that JEMA’s teams were involved in this launch, even in a very small way, through prime contractor Avio, which now operates Vega-C, is a source of excitement and interest for us. As far as the general public is concerned, we are now a long way from the worldwide live broadcasts of the 1960s to 1980s, when the whole world watched launches like these, sometimes anxiously.

In the same indiference, on June 17th, 2026, an Ariane 6 rocket lifted off from the same spaceport. This mission successfully places into orbit 36 satelittes for the Amazon LEO constellation (for high speed internet). It was the 8th launch, and the 8th success… And a critical one, with the largest payload ever and the new more powerful boosters. And weeks earlier, on April 30th, 2026, Ariane 6 had also lifted off from Kourou carrying anoter set of 32 Amazon Leo satellites, to roughly the same level of indifference.

And yet these remain highly technical events involving thousands of people. They are a demonstration of European cooperation, both industrial and scientific. Some 250 European and Chinese researchers are involved in the SMILE mission alone. They are also the fruit of collaboration between countless companies and research centres, working to ensure that little technological gems can be placed with pinpoint accuracy at a spot above our heads, to advance science or make something in our everyday lives a little easier. Observation, communications, analysis, navigation.

This was the 7th flight of Vega-C, and the 29th overall for the Vega family since its first liftoff from the Guiana Space Centre in 2012. It was also the very first flight operated by Avio in its new role as launch service provider. As a partner between launches and on the launchpad itself where our systems take their share of work during the countdown, we’ll keep tuning in for the next ones.