Key milestones

21 November 2018: Flight VV-13 orbits Mohammed VI-B satellite, Vega continues to operate at a rate of around 3 launches a year.

22 August 2018: Flight VV-12 orbits Aeolus satellite.

1 January 2018: Vega development and production activities are transferred from Spacelab S.p.a. to Avio S.p.a.

7 November 2017: Flight VV-11 orbits Mohammed VI-A.1er août 2017 : Vol VV-10, OptSat-3000, Venµs.

1 August 2017: Flight VV-10 orbits OptSat-3000 and VENµS.

6 March 2017: Flight VV-09 orbits Sentinel 2-B15 septembre 2016 : Vol VV-07, PeruSat-1, SkySats-4, 5, 6 et 7.

5 December 2016: Flight VV-08 orbits Göktürk-1.

15 September 2016: Flight VV-07 orbits PeruSat-1 and SkySats-4, 5, 6 and 7.

3 December 2015: Flight VV-06 places the LISA Pathfinder science mission into staging orbit prior to its departure to the L1 Lagrange point 1.5 million km from Earth.

23 June 2015: Flight VV-05, the first for the Copernicus Earth-observation and climate-monitoring constellation (Sentinel 2A).

11 February 2015: Flight VV-04, a suborbital flight carrying the prototype European IXV (Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle) atmospheric re-entry demonstrator, which parachutes down into the Indian Ocean.

29 April 2014: Flight VV-03 orbits DZZ-HR (KasEOSat-1).

7 May 2013: Flight VV-02, the first commercial flight to Sun-synchronous polar orbit, carrying the Proba-V, VNREDSat-1A and ESTCube-1 satellites.

13 February 2012: VV-01 maiden flight to low-Earth orbit is successful, carrying LARES and 8 microsatellites and nanosatellites.

14 December 2011: ESA signs first commercial launch contract for Vega to orbit two Sentinel satellites and the IXV demonstrator.

February 2010: Qualification of the AVUM upper stage.

30 November 2006: First hot-fire test of the P80-FW stage.

26 June 2006: First hot-fire test of the Zefiro 23 stage.