ESA - Integral - Proton ready on the pad

Integral in brief

Integral overview Integral factsheet A truly international mission

About Integral

The spacecraft The launcher The launch site - Baikonur The journey

Integral's mission

What's special?Why do we observe gamma rays?Observations: Seeing in the gamma-ray wavelengths The atoms that make us The densest objects in the Universe Giant black holes Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs)

Multimedia

Image gallery Pre-launch images, Sept 2002 Pre-launch images, October 2002 Video gallery 3D Flash 'model'Make a model

News


Proton being moving into the vertical position

Proton ready on the pad

15 October 2002
Proton, with Integral safely tucked away inside, is now on the launch pad ready for today's rehearsal of the launch countdown. After years of preparation everything is almost ready for Thursday’s launch.

This, the largest of the Russian rockets, is a very impressive sight. Weighing almost 700 tonnes it is 57 metres tall with six booster engines strapped to its first stage. These will ignite 1.6 seconds before liftoff to give the huge rocket the propulsion it needs to lift it off the ground.

Send this page to a friend

ESA's gamma-ray astronomy mission

Observations: Seeing in the gamma-ray wavelengths Observations: Seeing in X-ray wavelengths