2 June

2003: On 2 June 2003, the European Mars Express spacecraft was launched on its way to the Red Planet.

The spacecraft was built on ESA’s behalf by a European team led by Astrium. It set out on its journey to Mars aboard a Soyuz-Fregat launcher. The launcher lifted off from Baikonur in Kazakhstan on 2 June at 23:45 local time (17:45 GMT). An interim orbit around the Earth was reached following a first firing of the Fregat upper stage. One hour and thirty-two minutes after lift-off, the probe was injected into its interplanetary orbit.

Mars Express would then travel on a six-month, 400 million kilometre journey through the Solar System, arriving in December 2003.