> PRESS RELEASE
> Date Released: Monday, May 05, 2003
> European Space Agency
> ESA Sets Date For Mars Express Launch
>
>
> Just before midnight on 2 June (23:45 local time,
> 19:45 CEST) a Soyuz rocket
> operated by Starsem will lift off from the Baikonur
> Cosmodrome, and Mars
> Express will be on its way. The spacecraft was given
> the green light to
> launch following completion of a successful flight
> readiness review on 3
> May.
> The Mars Express launch window opens on 23 May and
> lasts only four weeks.
> However, just before the spacecraft was due to leave
> Toulouse, France, for
> its trip to Baikonur in Kazakhstan, engineers
> discovered a fault in one of
> the electronics modules. "Of course, it was the most
> difficult box to remove
> from the spacecraft," says with a smile Rudi
> Schmidt, Mars Express Project
> Manager.
> In view of the estimated time needed to correct the
> fault, the launch date
> was initially put back from 23 May to 6 June, still
> within the launch
> window. However, thanks to the skill and dedication
> of the engineering team,
> the job was completed sooner than expected and the
> launch date was brought
> forward.
> Mars Express is currently being fuelled, an
> operation that takes about a
> week. It will then be attached to Fregat, the Soyuz
> upper stage rocket
> booster, and mated with the Soyuz rocket. The whole
> system will be rolled
> out to the pad four days before launch. The journey
> to Mars will take six
> months and the spacecraft should enter its Martian
> orbit on 26 December.
> Europe's contribution to the exploration of the Red
> Planet will begin soon.
> For more information please contact:
> ESA Communication Department
> Media Relations Office
> Paris, France
> Tel: +33(0)15369 7155
> Fax: +33(0)1 5369 7690
> Live images of Mars Express are available on the ESA
> Science website:
> http://sci2.esa.int/spacecam/marsexpress.htm
> For more information about the Mars Express launch
> campaign, visit:
> http://www.esa.int/marsexpresslaunch
> For more information about the ESA Science
> Programme, visit:
> http://sci.esa.int
> For more information about ESA, visit:
> http://www.esa.int
> For more information about Starsem, visit:
> http://www.starsem.com
>

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