The European Space Agency (ESA) is Europe’s gateway to space. Its mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world.
Find out more about space activities in our 23 Member States, and understand how ESA works together with their national agencies, institutions and organisations.
Exploring our Solar System and unlocking the secrets of the Universe
Go to topicProtecting life and infrastructure on Earth and in orbit
Go to topicUsing space to benefit citizens and meet future challenges on Earth
Go to topicMaking space accessible and developing the technologies for the future
Go to topicThank you for liking
You have already liked this page, you can only like it once!
ESA’s Maxus 4 sub-orbital microgravity mission launch took place on the 29 April 2001 from ESRANGE, near Kiruna in northern Sweden.
During the last two years, scientists from five European countries have been working together with the engineering teams from Astrium GmbH and the Swedish Space Corporation in preparation for the Maxus 4 mission, which is funded by the European Space Agency.
The Maxus 4 flight will provide weightlessness to the experiments for the duration of about 12.5 minutes. On its flight, the payload will reach an apogee of 710km. On the down-leg, at an altitude of 6km the main parachute will be deployed to ensure the safe landing of the Maxus 4 payload at a distance of about 80km down-range. It will then be brought back by helicopter, normally within one hour after impact. The scientific payload weighing 490kg is housed in five autonomous experiment modules, each having access to telemetry, telecommand and video services.