FG Hails Irish Involvement In Space Mission

Fine Gael has congratulated the numerous Irish people involved in the successful launch of a landmark €2 billion space mission.

Deirdre Clune, Fine Gael Spokeswoman on Innovation congratulated NUI Maynooth and the Irish staff in the European Space Agency (ESA) who have been working towards the launch for many years.

The widely anticipated space mission, which successfully launched yesterday will see two new highly advanced space observatories orbiting 1.5 million kilometres from the earth.

Ms Clune said: "These observatories represent some of the most advanced pieces of technology ever launched into space.

"Over the next few years they will unlock many secrets of the universe and provide a massive amount of data to Irish scientists.

"The Irish involvement in this mission highlights the value of science and engineering knowledge and expertise to our economy.

"This is a day of well earned celebration to the Irish and European scientific community," she said.

The eyes of the world's scientific community winced in trepidation of yesterdays vital launch. The two enormously expensive telescopes, known as Herschel and Planck, had been lumped together onto the one rocket by the ESA in order to save costs.

However, the Ariane 5 rocket used for the launch has been known to be volatile.

(DW/BMcC)