Herschel Space Observatory
An ESA mission with participation from NASA
An ESA mission with participation from NASA
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NASA Herschel Science Center's Portal to the Cool Universe
Herschel and Planck Launcher at Launch Pad
Feature • nhsc2009-011 • Wednesday, May 13th, 2009
At around 13:40 CEST today, 8:40 at the launch site in Kourou, the Ariane 5 carrying Herschel and Planck rolled out onto the launch pad from its earlier location in the final assembly building under blue skies complete with puffy clouds.
The entire process of moving the launcher from the final assembly building to the launch pad 2.6 km away took about 1.5 hrs. Roll-out was announced at 8:40 local time after which the launcher was pulled out of the final assembly building. The Ariane 5 arrived at the launch pad at about 10:15 local time.
