A telecommunications satellite the size of a double-decker bus has been successfully launched into space.
Alphasat was launched from Europe's spaceport in Kourou in French Guiana on Thursday night.It is Europe's largest telecommunications satellite ever manufactured and results from a large-scale public-private partnership between the European Space Agency (ESA) and Inmarsat, a British company.
Inmarsat satellites are currently used by the world's shipping, oil exploration, defence, aviation and media industries, amongst others, to service their communications needs.