CHEOPS launch postponed
December 17th, 2019
Liftoff is currently scheduled for Wednesday, December 18, 2019 at 9:54:20 CET. On Tuesday morning, 1 hour 25 minutes before liftoff during final countdown operations, the Soyuz-Fregat launcher’s automated sequence was interrupted. The rocket with the CHEOPS space telescope on board should have taken off from ESA’s spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana on 17.12.2019 shortly before 10 a.m. CET. A software error in the Fregat upper stage led to an aborted take-off. The launcher and its satellite payloads were placed in a fully safe standby mode.