On December 05, 2016 at 13:51 UTC the “Vega” rocket-carrier was launched from Kourou Cosmodrome in French Guiana. The rocket orbited the Turkish “Göktürk-1A” military satellite. It is a $300 million project to feed improved surveillance imagery to the Turkish military and advance the country’s aerospace manufacturing base. Thales Alenia Space, a segment of Telespazio minority owner Thales Group, manufactured the “Göktürk-1A” satellite at its plant in Cannes, France.