First Romanian Space Rocket Unloaded Friday On Navy Ship For Further Launch Operation

ARCA PR Manager Simona Popescu said take-off could be delayed by bad weather, but the team is determined to launch the rocket this year.

The Helen craft, designed and built by ARCA, is a three-stage orbital rocket and represents Romania's entry in the Google Lunar X Prize competition.

The Navy will transport the launch equipment, the rocket and carrier balloon, as well as the ARCA team, out into the open sea. Two large military ships and three light boats will take part in this phase of the operation. After several days of preparations and training, the launch operation will go ahead as planned, if weather allows it.

Created in 2007, Google Lunar X Prize is an international space competition to land a robot on the surface of the Moon, travel 500 meters over the lunar surface, and send images and data back to the Earth. The prize for the winning team is $30 million.

The Aeronautics and Cosmonautics Romanian Association is a non-government organization and national leader in aerospace research. In 2002, ARCA entered the most prestigious space research competition - the Ansari X Prize. ARCA entered the Google Lunar X Prize in 2008 with the following projects: the HAAS satellite launcher and ELE lunar probe.

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