ENVISAT: A Giant Leap for Mankind

When, in the night of 28th February to 1st March 2002, the Ariane 5 rocket with the European Enviromental Satellite Envisat on board lifted off from its launch pad at Kourou, the ESA-European Space Agency’s launching centre in French Guyana and after 23 minutes reached its sun-synchronous polar orbit at an altitude of 800km above the surface of the earth, many scientists and technicians at Ariane Space and other ESA facilities took a deep breath of relief.The new rocket,Ariane 5, had experienced problems during previous launches but had been totally overhauled to enable a smooth ride this time.The launching vehicle Ariane 5 was developed by ESA to make sure that Europe could maintain its leading role in heavy launching capacity. The Ariane 5 is gradually phasing out the highly successful Ariane 4 and ultimately eight to ten launches per year are envisaged with the Ariane 5.To mark this important moment, GIM International interviewed Ir. Evert Attema, attached to the European Space AgencyESA-ESTEC in Noordwijk,The Netherlands.