Vega C launch slides toward Christmas as customers keep space Santa waiting

Avio, the Italian rocket maker, announced its third Vega C launch of 2026 is slipping toward Christmas Day, several weeks later than its early December target. CEO Giulio Ranzo blamed the delay on customers delivering their satellites late, with the final spacecraft just arriving in French Guiana in early November. This mission will carry six satellites for Italy's IRIDE Earth observation constellation. This isn't the first holdup this year; Ranzo previously said a late satellite delivery prevented them from achieving more than three launches in 2026. The company's ambition to ramp up to four or five launches annually hinges entirely on customers meeting their schedules, a recurring bottleneck in the launch business. So, the grand plan for faster space access gets grounded by the oldest problem in logistics: waiting for the package to arrive.