Posted: Sat, Dec 24, 2022, 11:10 AM ET (1610 GMT)
A Vega C rocket carrying two imaging satellites failed during a launch Tuesday night. The Vega C lifted off from French Guiana at 8:47 pm EST (0147 GMT Wednesday), but less than four minutes later, the rocket deviated from its planned trajectory, falling back to Earth. Arianespace said that the rocket's Zefiro-40 solid-fuel second stage suffered from "underpressure" that caused a loss of thrust. The launch was the second flight of the Vega C, an upgraded version of the Vega small launch vehicle, after a successful inaugural flight in July. It's the third failure in less than three and a half years for the Vega family of vehicles after Vega failures in July 2019 and November 2020. The rocket carried the Pléiades Neo 5 and 6 high-resolution imaging satellites for Airbus Defence and Space.

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