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Launch of European mission to Venus is postponed
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    • PARIS (AFP) Oct 21, 2005
     The launch of Europe's first mission to Venus, due to have taken place next Wednesday, has been postponed by several days, the European Space Agency (ESA) said on Friday.

    Venus Express, designed to monitor the planet's unusual atmosphere, was to have been launched by a Russian Soyuz-Fregat rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Wednesday at 0443 GMT.

    ESA said in a press release that "contamination" was detected inside the fairing -- the bullet-shaped hood that covers the payload on the top of the rocket -- in final checks at Baikonur.

    It did not give details.

    "A new launch date will be announced shortly," the brief statement said.




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