AS New Scientist went to press on Tuesday, the maiden flight of the European Space Agency's Ariane 5 rocket ended in disaster with an explosion, only seconds after lift-off, at 12.35 GMT. The rocket had been on the wrong launch trajectory.
Ariane was carrying four scientific satellites, collectively known as Cluster. The satellites were due to take measurements of the Earth's magnetosphere and how it is affected by the solar wind.
Nick Flowers, a Cluster mission scientist at the Mullard Space Science Laboratory, University College London, said: "We were watching the launch live in the lab and we're all pretty shell-shocked. It's a major loss to European and British space science."
Cluster was put on Ariane's maiden flight because ESA had not charged for the launch.
To continue reading this article, subscribe to receive access to all of newscientist.com, including 20 years of archive content.