Launch of EU's Galileo system set for Friday
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The launch of the first two satellites of the European Union's Galileo navigation system was expected Friday after years of waiting for the start of the program billed as the main rival to GPS. The EU had all the pomp and speeches about the dawning of a new age prepared for Thursday, but was forced to postpone it for at least another 24 hours because of a leaky valve that kept a Russian Soyuz rocket grounded at the launch site in French Guiana on the northern coast of South America.
The Galileo system has become a symbol of EU infighting, inefficiency and delay, but officials are hoping it will kick off a trans-Atlantic competition with the ubiquitous American GPS network. (AP)
