| 
An unprecedented step in space cooperation
- A Soyuz rocket lifted off on Friday on its maiden flight from Europe's space base here, carrying the first two satellites in the Galileo geo-positioning system.
- Soyuz is a space legend, for it traces its lineage to 1957 with Sputnik, the first satellite, and to the first manned flight, by Yuri Gagarin, in 1961. Friday's launch was the 1,777th in the Soyuz saga. It has a success rate of 94.4 per cent.
- Galileo is intended to give Europe independence in satellite navigation, a vital component of the 21st-century economy, from the U.S. Global Positioning System (GPS). When completed in 2020, it will comprise 27 satellites and provide accuracy to within a metre, compared to three to eight metres for the GPS.
