It’s hard to believe that the Copernicus Sentinel-5P satellite arrived in Plesetsk a just week ago – we’ve certainly had an exciting and busy few days.

Despite it being the weekend, we worked on Saturday and finished checking Sentinel-5P’s battery and continued various other checks.

Battery checks. (ESA)

The propulsion team has been busy unpacking and making preparations to fuel the satellite. We had a very productive planning meeting to understand the full fuelling process and how this affects the other teams’ activities – it’s a very hazardous procedure so there are a lot of rules.

Satellite fuelling preparations. (ESA)

And, lunchtime isn’t just spent eating, we taking the time to also learn some Russian.

Learning Russian. (ESA)

Sunday, however, was a well-deserved rest day for the team. Some went shopping, some went for a run and others went bowling.

Bowling. (ESA)

We all met up in the evening for dinner laid on by Airbus Defence and Space, where Derick treated us to some tunes on the bagpipes – always impressive!

Dinner. (ESA)

Playing bagpipes. (ESA)

From the ESA Sentinel-5P launch campaign team in Plesetsk

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