Soyuz VS14 upper composite hoisted to the top of the service tower

Soyuz VS14 upper composite hoisted to the top of the service tower in preparation for the 22 April 2016 launch.

The Soyuz VS14 mission launching from the Guiana Space Center carries into orbit the Sentinel-1B satellite for the European Commission’s Copernicus Earth Observation Program. In addition to the primary payload, the mission is carrying the MicroSCOPE Satellite and three CubeSats to orbit.

Once in orbit, Sentinel-1B will provide radar images of Earth for Europe’s Copernicus environmental monitoring programme.

With the Sentinel-1 mission designed as a two-satellite constellation, Sentinel-1B will join its identical twin, Sentinel-1A, which was launched two years ago.