The second Russian-built Soyuz rocket launched from French Guiana blasted carrying six military spy satellites.
About one hour after launch, five of the satellites separated from the rocket.
The first was Pleiades, a one-tonne observation satellite to be used extensively by the French defense ministry.
Several minutes later, the rocket released four ELISA (Electronic Intelligence by Satellite) demonstrator satellites to test space-based mapping of radar transmitters globally for France's Defense Procurement Agency (DGA).
A sixth satellite, for Chile's armed forces, is scheduled for separation.
This was the second time that a Soyuz, which first flew in 1966 and traces its roots back even further to the earliest Cold War intercontinental ballistic missiles, was launched from outside its former Soviet bases.
The first French Guiana-launched Soyuz rocket orbited the first two of Europe's Galileo global positioning satellite constellation last October.
