First Vega visible

Europe Space Agency's new launcher qualification is well under way with a key event at Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana: for the first time VEGA appears in the open air after the retrieval of its preparation tower, a mobile gantry. This is part of the operations leading to the maiden flight of this new launcher made in Europe. The inaugural VEGA flight is scheduled to take place from 9 February 2012. Europe's new launcher will lift off from a newly built launch site at Kourou exactly on the location where the first Ariane flights took place at the Guiana Space Centre.