An experimental European cosmic shuttle was launched in Guiana

An experimental shuttle (Intermediate Experimental Vehicle - IXV) developed by the European Space Agency started from the Kuru cosmodrome in French Guiana. The launch broadcast is carried out on the agency’s website.

The start occurred at 16:40 in Moscow, the IXV flight should last about a hundred minutes. After separation from the Vega launch vehicle, the unmanned vehicle reaches a height of 450 kilometers, then it will enter the dense layers of the atmosphere and will lead to parachutes.

The successful leadership of the device occurred at 18:23 in Moscow, according to Twitter ECA.

The launch of the IXV is part of the program for the development of future delivery tools, which began in 2004 and should end by 2025. Now EKA is working out technologies that are used when the spacecraft is returned to Earth. At the entrance to the dense layers of the atmosphere of IXV, using the clicks, it is guided by a large angle of attack (“lifts up” the nose like American shuttles). After braking, parachutes are thrown out of the hatch in the upper part.