The microgravity rocket MASER 12 has been successfully launched from SSC's launching facility Esrange Space Center. MASER 12 reached an apogee of 260 km and the experiments on board spent 6 minutes in microgravity.

MASER 12 carried five ESA financed microgravity experiments for studies of:

+ The effect of microgravity on white blood cells

+ T-cell activation in microgravity

+ Blood cell transportation and movement in blood vessels

+ Solidification process on binary Au-Cu alloy through x-ray radiographic observation

+ The behaviour of propellants in spacecraft tanks

"This was a long awaited launch, and the scientific teams are really enthusiastic. The countdown was very tense but no room was given to inculcated risks: we are only happy if we have 100% success, I believe we caught the whole prey" says Mr Antonio Verga, Project Technical Officer, ESA.

MASER is an SSC sounding rocket programme for research using microgravity as a means of investigation. SSC is the prime contractor for the Maser 12 mission which is carried out for the customer ESA.

This includes the responsibility for all experiment modules, the service module, the recovery system and the rocket motor as well as launch and recovery.