Smile leaving Saint-Nazaire in France
On 11 February 2026, the Smile spacecraft was loaded into a ship in the Port of Amsterdam, ready for transport across the Atlantic Ocean to Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana.
On the way, it made a quick pit-stop in Saint Nazaire, France, to pick up the upper stage of the Vega-C rocket that will carry it to space and drop it off into orbit around Earth.
This image, taken by the Smile Product Assurance Manager Bruno Bras, was taken as Smile left the Port of Saint-Nazaire.
[Image description: A view from the deck of a ship travelling on the ocean. The ship has a green deck and white edges. It is travelling through two jetties, one of which has a lighthouse at the end. The water is grey but the weather is relatively nice, with mostly blue sky scattered with white-grey clouds. The Sun is fairly low in the sky, indicating that it is either morning or late afternoon.]
