27 February

The reason it was delayed by a few days was to allow for a minor repair to the external thermal protection on Ariane 5 launcher’s core cryogenic stage.

A visual inspection of the cryogenic core stage detected that a 10 X 15-cm piece of the protection was missing, giving reason for the countdown to be stopped. The inspection was made prior to the start of the stage’s fuelling. This thermal protection insulates the stage’s cold cryogenic propellants against the warmer external environment.

To replace the missing piece of insulation, Ariane 5 would be moved on its mobile launch table back to the Spaceport’s Final Assembly Building, where a new block of thermal protection would be installed. Once the new piece was in place, the adhesive required approximately 36 hours for its drying/curing process.

Rosetta was finally launched on 2 March 2004.