New European rocket made in Italy blasts off

(ANSA) - ROME, JUL 13 - A new European rocket made in Italy blasted off on is maiden mission Wednesday.
    The European Space Agency's (ESA) Vega C, made near Rome by Avio, left the European launch site at Kourou in French Guyana shortly before three fifteen Italian time.
    Much of its payload is Italian: the scientific satellite Lares 2, of the Italian Space Agency (ASI), and six cubesats, including the Italian ones Astrobio and Greencube, made for ASI by the National Astrophysics Institute (INAF) and Rome's La Sapienza University.
    The launch will conclude in just over two hours with the release of the payload into orbit, after which the last stage of the rocket will be switched off. (ANSA).