Soyuz VS01
October 21, 2011 - Historic first launch of the venerable Russian Soyuz launcher from its new launch base at the European launch center in French Guiana. This inaugural launch carried two satellites for the new European Galileo navigation system to orbit.At the moment of the launch there was heavy rain at the launch pad, impacting launch photography with reduced transparency and drops on the lenses. From the "Colibri" outdoor viewing site, which is situated roughly 4 km from the launch pad, visibility was so much reduced that the rocket was hardly visible. The rain forest in French Guiana offers quite some challenges.
