The first 30 metres of SMART-1's journey

On 18 September 2003, SMART-1 completed the first 30 metres of its trip to the Moon.

The ESA spacecraft was raised to the top of the Ariane 5 launcher within the Final Assembly Building at Kourou. Within an hour SMART-1 was sitting tightly on the upper stage and the team could remove the hoisting blocks for the last time.