A Russian Soyuz STB rocket launched from Kourou in French Guiana today, December 18th 2014 at 18:37 UTC carrying four O3b communication satellites into orbit called FM9, FM10, FM11 and FM12. O3b communication satellites provide fast broadband via Ka-band transponders with low latency due to being four times closer to Earth than other geostationary communication satellites. <br /> <br />This was the 10th Soyuz launch from Kourou since 2011 and the first since a failure in the Fregat upperstage when lofting the FOC1 & FOC2 Galileo navigational satellites into the wrong orbit earlier this year.
