Brussels, 12/02/2015 (Agence Europe) - Similarly to the US and Russia, the Europeans are now also supervising the return to the earth's atmosphere of space shuttles. On Wednesday 11 February, the European Space Agency (ESA) completed the launch and return of the Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle (IXV).
The IXV was launched by the Vega rocket from the Kourou space station in French Guiana. Following a flight of up to 413 km in altitude, without incident but which was subject to a 40 minute delay, the vessel began its descent and return to the earth's atmosphere. The success of this most critical of phases is expected to pave the way to new ESA perspectives in terms of return and reusability capacity, explained ESA Director-General, Jean-Jacques Dordain. He said that “the European space industry's partners, the ESA and member states are now ready to meet new challenges in space transport, such as future launchers, exploration by robots and manned space flights”. (Marie-Pauline Desset)