This Echo is READ ONLY !   NO Un-Authorized Messages Please!
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

European Space Agency

Press Release

Successful launch for Maxus 5

1 April 2003
 
The European Space Agency's Maxus 5 sounding rocket mission was
successfully launched on 1 April at 08:00 CEST (06:00 GMT) from
Esrange, north of the Arctic Circle near Kiruna in northern Sweden. 
 
The rocket, an 11.5 tonne solid-fuelled Castor 4B, carried a 488 kg
payload of five scientific experiments with their associated
telemetry and video links. The five experiments were stacked in five
self-contained modules. They were designed to investigate phenomena
in biology, fluid physics, material science and fundamental physics. 
 
The launch, originally planned for later in the morning, was brought
forward due to the bad weather forecast for later in the day. Maxus 5
hurtled upwards through a partially cloudy sky to reach a maximum
speed of about 3600 metres per second and maximum height of just over
700 km. From booster burnout 70 km up, until atmospheric re-entry 740
seconds later, the payload was in excellent microgravity conditions. 
 
Mission telemetry, used to monitor the experiments, functioned
perfectly. Video images and data received at Esrange show that the
experiments went well. Early indications are that just one of the
experiments experienced any problems during the mission. 
 
The payload package was found soon after landing and has been
recovered by two helicopters about 80 km downrange.

Describing events from the control room at Esrange, Wolfgang Herfs,
ESA's sounding rocket project manager, said, "The scientists are very
excited as the flight went very well, they can't wait to get hold of
their samples for further analysis".

 - END OF FILE -
==========

@Message posted automagically by IMTHINGS POST 1.30
---