Arianespace Launches Turkish GÖKTÜRK-1 Satellite

Arianespace has successfully launched the GÖKTÜRK-1 satellite within the scope of a turnkey contract with Telespazio on behalf of the Turkish Undersecretariat for Defence Industries (SSM). The launch took place on December 5, 2016 at 10:51:44 a.m. local time, from the Guiana Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana.
This was the 10th launch of the year for Arianespace and the second with Vega in 2016. It also marked the eighth successful launch in a row of this lightweight launcher, which made its debut at the Guiana Space Center in 2012. As a versatile launch vehicle espe-cially well suited to the Earth observation market, Vega continues to confirm its excel-lence with this latest mission.