Unloading the Antonov at Cayenne airport
At 02:45 this morning, the 2nd Antonov carrying the Deployable Sunshield (DSA) and the remainder of the Ground Support Equipment landed in Cayenne. Waiting to meet it and unload the cargo were the Centre Spatial Guyanais (CSG) transport team supported by Astrium “heavy gang” with representatives from ESA and Arianespace.
Early breakfast at Cayenne airport
This meant a very early start from Kourou for all involved in the activity. Just part of the ups and downs of a launch campaign. The operation went very smoothly and thanks to some welcome “ti” dejeuner with hot coffee kindly delivered by Freelance, we were able to complete the loading of the trucks in good time for the road journey to CSG.
Unpacking of the containers and the dispatching to the Clean Room and offices is ongoing.
Sundowner at the beach in Kourou
To compensate for the pain of this morning, the team assembled on the beach in Kourou for a sundowner and to watch the launch of Ariane 5 flight V215. It was a spectacular sight.
A spectacular sight: launch of Ariane 5
The rocket passed right overhead and was still visible after the solid booster separation. We celebrated with a “Ti punch” or two !!!!!
Just like a giant “Jig Saw Puzzle”, the pieces are coming together nicely.
Keep watching this space for further progress.
Discussion: one comment
I’ve been following Gaia for some years now and I’m really happy to see that the start of operations is so close. I wish the team a sucessful launch! I’ll follow live if available.