Vega, ESA's new launch vehicle, is ready to operate alongside the Ariane 5 and Soyuz launchers, after its successful qualification flight on 13 February 2012 from Europe's Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.

With Vega extending the family of launchers available at the spaceport, Europe now covers the full range of launch needs, from small science and Earth observation satellites, to the largest missions like ESA's supply freighter to the International Space Station, the Automated Transfer Vehicle.

More background information can be found on: http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Vega/index.html

This A & B Roll looks back at the Vega launch in Kourou and the technology behind it. It includes interviews with Antonio Fabrizi, ESA Director of Launchers and Stefano Bianchi, ESA Vega Programme Manager.

The MPEG-2 files are on the ESA ftp server in the folder entitled : ftp://esa.contentcoders.com/mpeg2/Vega-1stflight-23032012/