GOCE Satellite Completes Transfer Using An-124

As reported earlier the ESA GOCE satellite left Amsterdam as scheduled on 29 July on board an Antonov-124 cargo aircraft for its flight to the Arkhangelsk Airport in Russia, en route to Russias Plesetsk Cosmodrome, about 800 km north of Moscow.

The spacecraft began it's journey on 23 July when it was packed in a nitrogen-pressurised container inside the clean room at ESAs European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC) in Noordwijk, the Netherlands.

The container then travelled by truck on 29 July to Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam, where it was loaded into the Antonov aircraft together with 11 other containers carrying vital support gear, including electrical and mechanical ground support equipment.

Five Thales Alenia Space (Italy) GOCE Launch Campaign and four ESA team members travelled with the containers to monitor the spacecraft in the An-124 cargo bay.

The flight was scheduled to land in Arkhangelsk on the Tuesday evening and undergo custom clearance overnight. Once cleared, the Spacecraft Transport Container and the other containers were transported by trucks to the local train station where they were loaded onto dedicated train wagons.

From Arkhangelsk, the containers travelled by special train with their own escort personnel for the 200-km journey south to Plesetsk Cosmodrome, where they arrived on 31 July.

Non-urgent equipment had already been shipped earlier by sea to Arkhangelsk and after custom clearance, the cargo was transferred by special train to Plesetsk on 4 August.

The GOCE spacecraft is scheduled for launch on 10 September 2008. After launch the supporting ground equipment will be returned to the Netherlands using another Antonov An-124 cargo charter flight for the air sector.