Gaia has been travelling towards L2 since 19 December, when, just before dawn local time, it was spectacularly launched from ESA's Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.

A day later, Gaia performed an important thruster burn to set course to its destination. Last night, a critical manoeuvre boosted into its 263 000 × 707 000 × 370 000 km, 180 day-long orbit around L2. A small course correction will be made next week to complete the manoeuvre.

Once the spacecraft instruments have been fully tested and calibrated – an activity that started en route to L2 and will continue for another four months – Gaia will be ready to enter a five-year operational phase.