Following on from the first launch, a further four flights were conducted under the vestiges of the VERTA programme (Vega Research and Technology Accompaniment), during which observation or scientific payloads were orbited while validating and readying the Vega rocket for more lucrative commercial operations. The second launch, performed on 6 May 2012, which followed a considerably more demanding flight profile and carried the type's first commercial payload, was also successful. In the aftermath of this second launch, European Space Agency (ESA) declared the Vega rocket to be "fully functional".