Rosetta spacecraft gets ready to blast off
News story originally written on January 15, 2004

The European Space Agency is getting ready to launch a space mission. The mission is called Rosetta. Rosetta will fly to a comet and study it. Part of the spacecraft will land on the comet. Rosetta will blast off on February 26, 2004.

Rosetta was supposed to blast off a year ago, but there were problems with its rocket. Those problems have been fixed, so Rosetta is ready to go now. Rosetta will study a comet named Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The comet is named after two Russian scientists who discovered it.

Rosetta has a long trip ahead of it. It will take Rosetta ten years to get to the comet! Rosetta will fly by Mars and an asteroid on the way to the comet. Let's hope that Rosetta has a safe trip!

Last modified January 14, 2004 by Randy Russell.

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