Posted by tourdemars to Mars Express at February 7, 2003 12:00 PM

A British-built space probe is beginning the first leg of a £110 million mission to search for life on Mars. The Beagle 2 Mars Lander was being shipped to the French city of Toulouse today to join the European Space Agency's Mars Express, ahead of its planned launch in May. Once on the Red Planet, the probe will conduct a series of tests on minerals and rock samples.