The European Space Agency’s Maxus 5 sounding rocket mission
was successfully launched on 1 April at 08:00 CEST (06:00
GMT) from Esrange, north of the Arctic Circle near Kiruna
in northern Sweden.

The rocket, an 11.5 tonne solid-fuelled Castor 4B, carried
a 488 kg payload of five scientific experiments with their
associated telemetry and video links. The five experiments
were stacked in five self-contained modules. They were
designed to investigate phenomena in biology, fluid
physics, material science and fundamental physics.

The launch, originally planned for later in the morning,
was brought forward due to the bad weather forecast for
later in the day. Maxus 5 hurtled upwards through a
partially cloudy sky to reach a maximum speed of about
3600 metres per second and maximum height of just over
700 km. From booster burnout 70 km up, until atmospheric
re-entry 740 seconds later, the payload was in excellent
microgravity conditions.

Mission telemetry, used to monitor the experiments,
functioned perfectly. Video images and data received
at Esrange show that the experiments went well. Early
indications are that just one of the experiments
experienced any problems during the mission.

The payload package was found soon after landing and has
been recovered by two helicopters about 80 km downrange.

Describing events from the control room at Esrange,
Wolfgang Herfs, ESA’s sounding rocket project manager,
said, “The scientists are very excited as the flight
went very well, they can’t wait to get hold of their
samples for further analysis”.

Related articles

* Maxus 5 prepares for launch

http://www.esa.int/export/esaHS/SEMHK79YFDD_index_0.html

Related links

* Esrange
http://www.ssc.se/esrange/

* Maxus 5 web site
http://maxus5.marscenter.it/

IMAGE CAPTIONS:

[Image 1:
http://www.esa.int/export/esaHS/SEM4D89YFDD_index_1.html]
At 08:00 CEST (06:00 GMT) on 1 April 2003, Maxus 5 was
successfully launched from the Esrange facility at
Kiruna, northern Sweden. Credits: Swedish Space
Corporation

[Image 2:
http://www.esa.int/export/esaHS/SEM4D89YFDD_index_1.html#subhead1]
Maxus 5 was successfully launched from Esrange at
Kiruna, northern Sweden. Scientists were able to
monitor their experiments using telemetry links.
Credits: Swedish Space Corporation

[Image 3:
http://www.esa.int/export/esaHS/SEM4D89YFDD_index_1.html#subhead2]
Maxus 5 experiments were monitored from the ground
station at Esrange. Maxus 5 was successfully launched
at 08:00 CEST (06:00 GMT) on 1 April 2003 from Esrange
at Kiruna, northern Sweden. Credits: Swedish Space
Corporation