Mars Express en route for the Red Planet   Mars Express, launched on 2 June 2003, at 23h45 (local time) on board a Soyuz-Fregat rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.   There in time for Christmas     The Beagle 2 lander, to be carried on ESA's Mars Express, is equipped with a suite of instruments designed to look for evidence of life on Mars. The Soyuz/Fregat lifts off on 2 June 2003 with ESA's Mars Express. Europe's first mission to the Red Planet leaves Earth when the positions of the two planets make for the shortest possible route, a condition that occurs once every twenty-six months. The intrepid spacecraft will start its six-month journey from the Baikonur launch pad in Kazakhstan onboard a Russian Soyuz/Fregat launcher. Getting to know Mars – inside and out     The Beagle 2 lander, to be carried on ESA's Mars Express, is equipped with a suite of instruments designed to look for evidence of life on Mars   The Mars Express orbiter. Release date: 6 June 2003