Sentinel-3C & FLEX

Italian launch services provider Avio has successfully completed its second Vega-C flight of 2026, deploying the European Commission’s third Sentinel-3 Earth observation satellite and ESA’s FLEX mission. The Vega-C rocket lifted off from the Guiana Space Centre at 01:21 UTC on 15 September. Following two burns of the rocket’s AVUM+ upper stage, Sentinel-3C was deployed […] The post Avio Launches Second Successful Vega C Flight of 2026 appeared first on European Spaceflight.

ESA’s state-of-the-art FLEX Earth Explorer satellite and the Copernicus Sentinel-3C satellite have been launched together aboard a Vega-C rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, marking a new milestone in Europe’s Earth Observation Programmes. Flight VV30 lifted off on 15 September at 03:21 (14 September at 22:21 local time).  

Two European Earth-observing spacecraft lifted off from South America tonight (Sept. 14). A Vega C rocket carrying the FLEX and Copernicus-3C satellites launched from Europe's Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana at 9:21 p.m. EDT (10:21 p.m. local time in Kourou and 0121 GMT on Sept. 15). Both FLEX and Sentinel-3C were deployed as planned. They were released at an altitude of about 509 miles (820 kilometers), and both were flying freely by 116 minutes after launch. A Vega C rocket launches the FLEX and Sentinel-3C Earth-observation satellites to Earth orbit from Kourou, French Guiana on Sept.…

Plants may look still and silent, but every leaf is constantly responding to its environment.

Two Earth observation satellites – ESA’s Fluorescence Explorer (FLEX) satellite, and the third satellite for the Copernicus Sentinel-3 mission – are encapsulated inside the nose cone of a Vega-C launcher and are awaiting liftoff at Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana.

Avio S.p.A., the Italian prime contractor, launch service provider, and launch operator for the Vega… The post Vega C set to launch the ESA Sentinel-3C and FLEX missions from Kourou appeared first on NASASpaceFlight.com.

On 15 September, two spacecraft will leave Earth together aboard the same launcher from Europe’s spaceport in Kourou: FLEX, ESA’s photosynthesis mission, and Sentinel-3C, Copernicus’ newest satellite monitoring Earth’s oceans, land, ice and atmosphere.

From the ESA Blogs.

From the ESA Blogs.

The European Space Agency’s FLEX satellite and the Copernicus Sentinel-3C satellite are scheduled to launch together aboard a Vega-C rocket on 15 September at 03:21 CEST (14 September at 22:21 local time). Watch the VV30 launch live from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, with coverage starting at 02:50 CEST.

On 4 September 2026, media representatives joined an online briefing ahead of the launch of ESA’s FLEX and the Copernicus Sentinel-3C satellites.

Copernicus Sentinel-3 is one of the most diverse missions for measuring and monitoring Earth’s climate systems. It captures a breadth of data about the environment and has contributed substantially to what we know about climate change over the past decade. The launch of the mission’s third satellite heralds the continuity of this vital source of knowledge.