Vega officially became an ESA programme in June 1998, when the Agency inherited the small-launcher programme of Italy’s ASI space agency.

In early 1998, Italy’s ASI space agency proposed Vega as a European project. In April 1998, ESA Council approved a Resolution authorising programme start in June and approving the first step of predevelopment activities. The Vega Programme was approved by ESA’s Ariane Programme Board in November 2000, and the project officially started on 15 December 2000, when seven countries subscribed to the Declaration.

Vega joined the family of launch vehicles at Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana on its debut in February 2012 and moved to full commercial exploitation in December 2015. It has demonstrated impressive capabilities ranging from equatorial to Sun-synchronous orbits, from orbital to suborbital missions, from single to multiple payloads. Vega-C, a more powerful version of Vega with greater payload volume and improved competitiveness, made its inaugural flight on 13 June 2022.