Gaia launch date

Gaia the astrometry mission, sixth corner stone of the scientific programme of the European Space Agency including the missions Rosetta, Herschel, Planck, Lisa and BepiColombo, finally has a launch date: December 19.

Gaia, which was first proposed in 1993, is expected to be launched on board a Soyuz rocket  from the Centre Spatial Guyanais (CSG) in French Guiana in South America, to begin its mission to map more than one billion stars, creating an astronomical census and map to help scientists chart the evolution of the Milky Way galaxy. The Soyuz 2-1b rocket will use a Fregat upper stage. Arianespace will oversee the launch. It will be operated in a Lissajous orbit around the Sun–Earth L₂ Lagrangian point for about 5 years.