European rocket Vega C crashed two minutes after liftoff due to second stage malfunction

On December 21, Arianespace's European Vega C rocket carrying two Airbus satellites crashed a few minutes after launch.

Here's What We Know

Vega C rocket launched from a spaceport in French Guiana at 21:47 (EDT) or 18:47 (PDT). Two minutes and 27 seconds later, the rocket went down due to a malfunction in the second stage, called Zefiro 40. At the same time, the company said that the first stage, P120C, worked in normal mode.

Arianespace specialists are now investigating the incident in order to determine the causes of the accident. The rocket was supposed to launch two Airbus satellites into orbit. Both spacecraft were lost as a result of the crash.

Vega C is a 25-meter launch vehicle designed as an improved version of the Vega rocket that made its first flight 10 years ago. As part of that mission, it was to deliver Airbus Pléiades Neo 5 and Pléiades Neo 6 satellites to a sun-synchronous orbit with a total mass of about 2 tons and a maximum payload of 2.3 tons.

Vega C has so far made only one successful flight. Thus, in mid-summer 2022 with its help company Arianespace sent into space six small cubesats and the Italian satellite LARES-2.

Source: space