1 July 2025

VA264 : How to watch the launch ?

Following the success of mission VV27 on 25 July, Europe’s spaceport is gearing up once again for the launch of the second Ariane 6 commercial flight. Mission VA264 will lift off on Tuesday, 12 August 2025, at 9:37 p.m. local time in Kourou (00:37 a.m. UTC, 2:37 a.m. CEST on 13 August), carrying on board the Metop-SGA1 satellite. 

On 12 August 2025, at 9:37 p.m. local time (00:37 a.m. UTC, 2:37 a.m. CEST on 13 August), Ariane 6 will launch the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) Metop-SGA1 satellite into orbit with Ariane 6 from Europe’s spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.

Named VA264, this mission represents the second commercial flight of the new European heavy-lift launcher Ariane 6, which will place its passenger, the Metop-SGA1 satellite, into sun-synchronous orbit (SSO) at an altitude of approximately 800 km.

 

How to witness the launch?
In French Guiana

Europe’s spaceport offers two observation sites to experience a launch: the Carapa site, with free access, and the Ibis site, accessible by booking only.

Located 18 km from the Ariane 6 launch pad and 15 km from the Vega-C launch pad, both sites offer a vantage point for breathtaking views of the launch.

The Carapa observation site is accessible without the need to book, subject to availability (up to 1,450 people). It will open two hours before lift-off. There are no age restrictions.

Bookings for the Ibis observation site will open on 29 July.

 

A live broadcast of the lift-off on a giant screen is also planned at Pointe Buzaré in Cayenne.

You can also freely watch the lift-off from other public areas such as Pim Poum Beach, the Cocoteraie in Kourou, and Monkey Mountain. There will be no broadcast, but the view and landscape offer stunning images!

 

Outside French Guiana

Follow the lift-off on Arianespace’s YouTube channel.
 

On the same section