XMM upper module in LSS

The upper half of XMM's flight model was placed in the Large Space Simulator (LSS) at ESTEC on 23 February 1999 to begin 10 days of thermal-vacuum testing on 4 March 1999. The module arrived at ESTEC on 9 February 1999 from prime contractor Dornier in Friedrichshafen, Germany. The journey from southern Germany to the Netherlands, with the Black Forest pass deep in snow, was an adventure in itself for the two extra-wide trucks carrying the upper module and the delicate high-tech imaging camera built by European scientists. The module consists of the focal plane assembly and associated telescope tube. The X-ray observatory is planned for launch in January 2000 aboard an Ariane-5 from Kourou, French Guiana. [Image Date: 1999/02] [99.03.004-087]