Galileo satellites 27 – 28 lifted off by Soyuz launcher VS26 from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana at 01:19 CET on 5 December 2021 (4 December at 21:19 local Kourou time). All the Soyuz stages performed as planned, with the Fregat upper stage releasing the satellites into their target orbit close to 23 525 km altitude, around 3 hours and 54 minutes after liftoff.