Two European telescopes aimed at pushing astronomy's frontier closer to the big bang were successfully launched on their space odyssey on Thursday. The Herschel and Planck spacecraft lifted off atop an Ariane 5 rocket from the European Space Agency's launch center in French Guiana at 9:12 a.m. ET, and within a half-hour ground controllers reported that both probes had separated successfully from the Ariane. Herschel and Planck are headed on separate trajectories to a gravitational balance point. (source: msnbc.msn.com)
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