The fairing of the Soyuz launcher that will lift ESA’s Cheops mission into space, along with the primary passenger, the Italian space agency’s Cosmo-SkyMed Second Generation satellite, and three CubeSats: ESA’s OPS-SAT and the French space agency’s CNES's EYE-SAT and ANGELS satellites. Launch is scheduled for 17 December from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.

In this photo, the upper composite of the launcher and all passengers are encapsulated in the fairing and the composite is ready for integration with the 3-stage launcher. The fairing sticker features, among others, the ESA and Cheops mission logos and the winning design of the Cheops fairing sticker competition, on the left, created by Denis Vrenko.

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