Russia confirms Venus Express launch date
MOSCOW, November 3 - The Russian Space Agency has confirmed November 9 as the new launch date for the Venus Express, a European spacecraft on a mission to Venus.
"The launch from the Baikonur Space Center [in Kazakhstan] is scheduled for 3:33 GMT [November 9]," Vyacheslav Davidenko, the spokesman for the agency, said Thursday. "The Russian Soyuz-Fregat carrier rocket will initially carry the spacecraft into Earth`s orbit and later place it on a Venus transfer trajectory."
French company Astrium built the spacecraft at the request of the European Space Agency (ESA).
The Venus Express will be the ESA`s first mission to Earth`s closest planetary neighbor. A follow-up to the Mars Express mission, the spacecraft operates instruments that are mostly upgrades of the Mars Express platform. After a 153 day journey to Venus, the spacecraft will enter Venus` orbit in April 2006.
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