spacetoday.net: Foton microgravity mission launched

Posted: Sat, Sep 15, 2007, 11:22 AM ET (1522 GMT)
Soyuz launch (Energia file photo)

A Soyuz rocket placed a recoverable spacecraft carrying a suite of microgravity experiments into orbit on Friday. The Soyuz rocket lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 7:00 am EDT (1100 GMT) and placed the Foton-M3 spacecraft into low Earth orbit. On board Foton-M3 are dozens of microgravity experiments, some of which feature living creatures such as newts, geckos, and snails. A number of the experiments were provided by ESA, and NASA scientists are serving as co-investigators on some of the payloads. Attached to the side of Foton-M3 is a secondary payload, ESA's second Young Engineers' Satellite (YES2); it will deploy from the main spacecraft via tether near the end of the mission. The spacecraft will return to Earth on September 26.