Working around the clock, mission teams have brought Sentinel-3A through the critical 'launch and early orbit phase' in just 49 hours, much earlier than planned and a record for such a complex satellite.

Last week, the third ESA-developed Sentinel satellite was lofted into space, ready to provide crucial ocean and land remote data for the EU's Copernicus environment programme.

The 1150 kg Sentinel-3A was carried into orbit on a Rockot from Plesetsk, Russia, at 17:57 GMT (18:57 CET) on 16 February.

Seventy-nine minutes after liftoff, Rockot made an extremely precise orbital injection, delivering Sentinel-3A into orbit 817.5 km above Earth, travelling at about 28,000 km/h.