Europe's First Sat-Nav Satellites Launched

Europe's first sat-nav satellites have been launched from a Russian rocket in French Guiana. 

The Galileo spacecraft will give the continent independence from the US military GPS system.

When complete, the European network of satellites will also be far more accurate, pinpointing a sat-nav's location on the Earth's surface to within a metre.
The signal from the US satellites is deliberately downgraded for civilian use, so it only locates to within 33ft (10m).

The two satellites were launched on a Soyuz rocket from French Guiana. A problem with the launcher on Thursday forced the European Space Agency to delay blast-off.   More