A word from ESA's Director General
9 December 1999
At a post-launch conference held between Kourou, Paris and ESOCDarmstadt, the Director General Of ESA Antonio Rodota said:"The launch of XMM represents a success for Europe. We are veryproud of our satellite, and of the Ariane-5 launcher. The flight hasfurther demonstrated the potential of the new vehicle and we expectmore successes of this kind.So you understand we really are proud tohave been on this first Ariane-5 commercial launch"."The work is now up to us. We must be sure that the scientific community will soon be able to use this satellite. There is a very strong demand for its science data that will complement that of NASA's Chandra observatory.
The construction of this new spacecraft has led us to develop new technologies which place Europe today at the forefront of space science. It is an achievement we can be proud of. And I would like to deeply thank Roger Bonnet, ESA Director of Science, Robert Laini and all those involved in the XMM project for their hard work."
"It was an incredible launch, it went so well. For XMM now, it is the beginning of a new story."
Last Update: 1 September 2019
