Maxus sounding rocket launch

ESA’s Maxus 4 sub-orbital microgravity mission launch took place on the 29th 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 provided weightlessness to the experiments for the duration of about 12.5 minutes. On its flight, the payload reached an apogee of 710 km. On the down-leg, at an altitude of 6 km the main parachute was deployed to ensure the safe landing of the Maxus 4 payload at a distance of about 80 km down-range. It will then was brought back by helicopter within one hour after impact. The scientific payload weighing 490 kg was housed in five autonomous experiment modules, each having access to telemetry, telecommand and video services.