Failure of Vega-C rocket launch in French Guiana

BERLIN (AP) — The launch of a European Vega C rocket carrying two Airbus satellites has failed less than three minutes after liftoff from the European base in French Guiana. Arianespace, which provided the launch service, said in a statement that “an anomaly occurred” approximately 2 minutes and 27 seconds after liftoff “thus ending the Vega C mission.” It gave no further information. It was the first commercial launch of a Vega C rocket, Europe’s light launcher capable of lifting about 800 kilograms into space. The launch, operated by the European Space Agency, was meant to take two earth observation satellites made by Airbus, Pleiades Neo 5 and 6, into orbit.