Even though the actual launch of Gaia into space happened so quickly on 19 December 2013, the launch preparations took several months and some dedicated people performing all steps and checks thoroughly. Thanks to them Gaia is out there in space, smoothly scanning the sky since routine operations started in July 2014.

Gaia was built by Airbus Defense and Space (at that moment still called Astrium) at the premises in Toulouse and was transported to French Guiana on 23 August 2013. Gaia, fully encaged by its spacecraft container, was carefully loaded onto the Antonov 124-100 airplane and then after arrival transported to the Guiana Space Centre (CSG) near Kourou. During transport of Gaia, the spacecraft container took care of protecting the satellite from a changing environment by keeping the atmosphere inside controlled. 

A second flight of the Antonov airplane was needed to also bring the deployable sunshield and the rest of the Ground Support Equipment to the Guiana Space Centre. All parts of the Gaia satellite were then brought together in the clean room to be assembled again followed by more tests to check the health of the satellite after transport. On 10 October 2013 a deployment of the solar panels was performed.

Given that Gaia was now fully installed with its sunshields, it did no longer fit inside its original spacecraft container. Another container was needed to transport Gaia to a different building so that fuelling could take place. Adding propulsion to a satellite is a risky activity and therefore this activity was performed by trained specialists following rigorous procedures. On 6 December 2013 the Gaia satellite was then installed onto the launch adapter, the interface between the satellite and the launcher.

Only a few days later, Gaia was installed onto the last stage of the Soyuz-STB/Fregat launcher and the protection was removed from the solar panels. Final inspections were performed and some last finishing touches took place, impossible to be done before because protection was in the way. Then Gaia was enclosed inside the fairing and the fairing logo was added to the side.

Gaia now being inside the fairing, was transported on 14 December to the launch site after which the fairing was lifted and placed on top of the launch vehicle. A few days were spent on rehearsal of the countdown procedures and the last checks before launch. Finally on 19 December 2013 Gaia was succesfully launched into space.

Many more companies than Airbus Defense and Space were involved in making the Gaia satellite, from making the mirrors to producing software components or delivering the star tracker. The full industrial involvement can be found here. Lots of images of the Gaia launch campaign can be found at the ESA Science & Technology media gallery. Gaia launch posters can be found here. A dedicated blog to the launch of Gaia is available in the French language from here. Special thanks to Isabelle Desenclos for sharing images she made in agreement with Airbus Space, ESA and Arianespace during the launch campaign.

Credits: ESA/Gaia, Isabelle Desenclos, Paolo Tanga

[Published: 19/12/2017, Updated: 21/12/2017]