Posted by tourdemars to Mars Express at May 9, 2003 12:00 PM

On June 2, a Soyuz rocket will lift off from the Baikonour Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan and carry with it the European Space Agency's first Mars-bound spacecraft. Mars Express is not only ESA's inaugural Mars mission but also the first of at least four missions destined for the Red Planet between late 2003 and early 2004.