Space minishuttle completes first flight

(ANSA) - Rome, February 11 - 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".