IXV

Vega carried the European Space Agency's Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle (IXV), a reentry test craft, on a suborbital flight. After separating at about 340 km, IXV climbed to 412 km, reentered at 7.5 km/s and splashed down under parachutes in the Pacific, west of the Galapagos Islands, having recorded data from more than 300 sensors.