Blast-off for Euro sat-nav project

The first satellite in the EU’s Galileo navigation programme was launched from Kazakhstan today in a major step forward for Europe’s answer to America’s all-dominating GPS system.

The satellite, named “Giove A”, took off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome aboard a Soyuz rocket on schedule at 11.19am local time (5.19am GMT).

Journalists monitored the lift-off via a link at the European Space Agency headquarters in Paris.