A prototype for a versatile
mini-spaceplane - a smaller, robot-controlled version of the US
space shuttle - on Wednesday successfully completed its first
test flight, splashing down in the Pacific Ocean.
The IXV spaceplane could provide Europe with a new,
re-useable space transportation system.
It blasted off on a Vega rocket from South America just
after 13:40 GMT in a test that could inform future technology
for landing payloads on Mars.
The test vehicle flew east around the globe, before
splashing down in the Pacific Ocean at about 15:20 GMT.
The wedge-shaped IXV (Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle)
is designed to gather information on how space objects fall back
to Earth.
Commenting on the launch, European Space Agency
Director-General Jean Jacques Dordain said: "It couldn't have
gone better.
"But the mission itself is not over because now it is
necessary to analyse all the data gathered during the flight".
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