Ariane Flight 158: Topping off Rosetta

The countdown for liftoff of Flight 158 reached another milestone this week with the fueling of Europe’s Rosetta comet-intercept spacecraft. This activity is taking place in the S3B clean-room facility at the Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. At the same time, final integration of Ariane 5 vehicle for Flight 158 is proceeding in the Spaceport’s launcher integration building.

Rosetta’s main scientific objective is to rendezvous with Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in order to study the comet’s nucleus and environment in great detail for a period of nearly two years, during which a lander will be released to the comet’s surface.