The German-designed European space shuttle „Phoenix“ (I still believe it's a strange name for a shuttle) passes it's test successful on Saturday. The 6m long prototype glided from an altitude of 2400m and „landed perfectly“ after 90 seconds.
The full-size „Phoenix“ will replace the Ariane 5 rocket for taking payloads into orbit, sometimes between 2015 and 2020. So far, 8.2 million Euro has been invested into the project. —–