Inaugural Vega Rocket Poised at Europe’s South American Spaceport
Posted by brandoniswrite on February 2, 2012
1st Fully assembled Vega Rocket on ESA Guiana launch pad for Inaugural Flight – February 2012
ESA’s new Vega rocket is now fully assembled on its launch pad. Final preparations are underway for the rocket’s inaugural flight lofting 9 satellites as early as February 9 from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.
Credits: ESA – S. Corvaja
Final preparations are in full swing for the inaugural flight of Europe’s new light launcher – the Vega booster – from the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. Launch crews are preparing the new rocket for blastoff as early as Feb 9, 2012 from the new Vega launch site at Kourou.
Vega has been under development for 9 years by ESA and its partners, Italian space agency ASI, French space agency CNES and industry.
The 30 meter tall Vega will join ESA’s venerable Ariane rocket family and the newly inaugurated Soyuz as the third class of booster rockets to launch from ESA’s rapidly expanding South American Spaceport at the Guiana Space Center. (…)
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© Ken Kremer for Universe Today, 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Ariane rocket, esa, French Guiana, Guiana Space Center, Kourou, Soyuz, Vega rocket
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Tags: American, Europe’s, Inaugural, poised, Rocket, South, Spaceport, Vega
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