Europe successfully tests first space flight

(Baonghean) - In a recent statement, the European Space Agency (ESA) announced that the spacecraft they built successfully flew into the atmosphere at a speed of 27,000 km/h and landed safely in the Pacific Ocean.

The Vage rocket carrying the IXV space shuttle lifts off from the launch pad in Kourou, French Guiana. Photo: AFP/Stephane Corvaja

On Wednesday, the 5-meter-long, 2-ton wingless spacecraft “IXV”, built by the French-Italian joint venture Thales Alenia Space under the auspices of ESA, successfully completed its maiden test flight. It is known that in 2009, ESA assigned the design of the IXV spacecraft to Thales Alenia Space.

At 10:40 local time (around 20:40 Vietnam time), the Vega rocket carrying the IXV space shuttle was launched from the space station in Kourou, Guiana and made a flight lasting 1 hour and 40 minutes. ESA said that in 100 minutes of takeoff, after IXV reached an altitude of 420 km (an altitude equivalent to the International Space Station ISS), IXV flew nearly 32,000 km from its starting point in South America to its landing point in the Pacific Ocean. Before the flight began, Mr. Jean-Jacques Dordain - President of ESA emphasized that "This is not simply 100 minutes, but it is 100 minutes to step into the future".

Up to now, Europe has always been at a disadvantage in the field of aerospace, and has been dependent on the technological know-how of the United States and Russia. Apart from the French Hermes project, which was later stopped in the 1980s, or the plan to test the ARD capsule spacecraft in 1998, which was then postponed to 2002, there has been no plan carried out by Europe in the field of space exploration. And this event once again opens up the hope that Europe can join the ranks of countries capable of sending spacecraft from Earth into space.

The total cost of this test is estimated at 170 million euros. However, at the recent ESA conference, only 14 million euros were allocated for the design of the PRIDE project – a development program following the IXV project. According to many analysts, the success of the first test flight is an important step forward. However, it will not be enough if the next steps are not clearly defined.

Chu Thanh

According to Le Monde, Le Figaro