TORONTO – The European Space Agency successfully launched an experimental test vehicle and returned it safely to Earth on Wednesday.
The Intermediate Experimental Vehicle (IXV) launched from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana at 8:40 EST atop a Vega rocket.
The launch was designed to test critical systems aboard an autonomous spacecraft that could shuttle supplies and eventually humans to the space station.
The five-metre-long ship reached an altitude of about 412 km during its 100-minute mission. Its 300 sensors collected data expected to released in about six weeks, the agency said.
“It couldn’t have been better,” said ESA’s director-general Jean-Jacques Dordain. “Now we have to analyze all the data that was collected.
“ESA and its member states, together with European space industry, are now ready to take up new challenges in several fields of space transportation, in future launchers, robotic exploration or human spaceflight.”
The IXV successfully splashed down in the Pacific Ocean just after 10:15 a.m. and was recovered by ship.
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