The most valuable cargo that Europe has sent into orbit, a pair of huge telescopes costing €1.9bn, ($2.6bn, £1.7bn), was launched on an Ariane 5 rocket from Kourou, French Guiana, yesterday. They will give astronomers a new insight into the darkest, coldest and oldest parts of the universe.
The successful launch of the two European observatories , called Herschel and Planck, coincided with the first spacewalk by astronauts from the US shuttle Atlantis on their 11-day mission to service and upgrade the 19-year-old Hubble space telescope.
