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| | | | | | | Mars Express overview
| | | | | | | | | 28 May. The Soyuz/Fregat launcher, with its passenger Mars Express, during transport to the launch pad
Mars Express will leave Earth for Mars
on 2 June 2003 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. | |  |  | |
| | | | | Mars Express, launched on 2 June 2003, at 23h45 (local time) on board a Soyuz-Fregat rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
Credits: ESA/STARSEM-S. CORVAJA 2003 | | | | |
| | | | | The Mars Express Orbiter on top of the Soyuz launcher upper stage (Fregat).
Credits: ESA | | | | |
| | | | |
Credits: ESA 2001. Illustration by Medialab. | | | | |
| | | | | | Mars Express in orbit around Mars with the MARSIS antenna unfurled | | | | |
| | | | Mission
| Mars Express left Earth for Mars on a six-month journey in June 2003, when the positions of the two planets made for the shortest possible route, a condition that occurs once every twenty-six months. The intrepid spacecraft was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan onboard a Russian Soyuz/Fregat launcher. It completed the interplanetary cruise, achieving a velocity of 10 800 km/h relative to Earth, in December 2003. Since entering its operational, near-polar orbit, Mars Express has operated perfectly, delivering some of the most spectacular and scientifically valuable results ever received from the Red Planet.
Credits: ESA - Illustration by Medialab | | | | |
| | | | Last update: 2 April 2004 | |
| | Looking at Mars  More about... Mars Express mission factsMars Express instrumentsPrincipal InvestigatorsRelated links High Resolution Stereo CameraESA Science & Technology HRSC pageDownload wallpapers |
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