Smile arrives in French Guiana

Following a two-week journey from the Netherlands, the Maritime Nantaise Colibri cargo ship carrying the Smile spacecraft docked in Kourou, French Guiana on Thursday 26 February.

Smile was then unloaded, transported to Europe's Spaceport, and then unpacked. During the coming weeks, the spacecraft will go through final preparations for its launch on a Vega-C rocket between 8 April and 7 May.

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Smile (the Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer) is a joint mission between the European Space Agency and the Chinese Academy of Sciences.