It was was pure coincidence that The Spectator should have landed itself with our own space correspondent — me — as chance witness to the launch of Europe’s first trip to the Moon last Sunday morning.
I was visiting an old friend who now works in IT support at the European Space Agency’s headquarters in Darmstadt, near Frankfurt. That same weekend, take-off of Arianespace’s flight 162 from Kourou, French Guiana, to Nowhere had been rescheduled to 00.03 GMT on 28 September.
Arianespace is a sort of Tomorrow’s World parcels service. Flight 162 would be carrying three packages: an Indian satellite and a European broadband satellite, both for orbit around the Earth, and the European Space Agency’s Smart-1 satellite for orbit around the Moon. Once beyond the strong pull of Earth, Smart-1 was to journey alone to the Moon, and under its own power.
‘I’m on call, but why not join the press corps?’ said Peter.
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