Posted: Sun, May 5, 2024, 6:31 AM ET (1031 GMT)
A Falcon 9 launched a pair of European Galileo navigation satellites April 27. The Falcon 9 lifted off at 8:34 pm EDT (0034 GMT April 28) from the Kennedy Space Center carrying two Galileo satellites. The European Union Agency for the Space Programme, the EU agency that handles Galileo operations, confirmed the satellites were in orbit and operating several hours later. The launch is the first of two that the EU procured from SpaceX because of a lack of available European rockets. European officials, in statements about the launch, studiously avoided mentioning that the satellites were flown on Falcon 9. The launch was the 20th and final flight of this booster, which SpaceX said it expended because of the performance requirements for the mission.

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