Europe's Newest Rocket to Launch on Maiden Voyage Monday

by Charles Q. Choi, SPACE.com Contributor

Date: 10 February 2012 Time: 12:24 PM ET

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ESA’s new Vega rocket is now fully assembled on its launch pad. Final preparations are in full swing for the rocket’s inaugural flight. Flight VV01 will lift off from the new Vega launch site at Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, carrying nine satellites into orbit: the LARES laser relativity satellite and ALMASat-1 from ASI with seven CubeSats from European Universities. Image released Jan. 26., 2012. CREDIT: ESA/S. Corvaja View full size image

The new Vega rocket from Europe may be small, but it promises to do the job of at least twice that of most other rockets its size.
The European Space Agency's (ESA) first Vega rocket is now fully assembled on its launchpad at Europe's spaceport in French Guiana, on the northern Atlantic coast of South America. Vega's maiden launch, dubbed VV01, is expected to occur on Feb. 13. The launch window extends from 5:00 a.m. to 7:00 a.m. EST (1000 to 1200 GMT).

MORE: http://www.space.com/14538-european-vega-rocket-maiden-launch.html








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