The European Space Agency (ESA) and Astrium will sign, on Tuesday 28 January, at ESA HQ at 02:00 p.m., a contract for the design and development of Venus Express, the first European spacecraft to visit the planet Venus.
Venus Express is scheduled for launch from the Baïkonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan during November 2005. It will be carried into space by a Soyuz-Fregat rocket and placed immediately in its transfer orbit to Venus. Its journey through space will last about 5 months for a mission duration around Venus of nearly 2 venusian years.