The World : Comet Mission Launched

A French Ariane rocket was fired into space from French Guiana, sending a picture-taking mission on a 465-million-mile journey to intercept Halley’s comet next March. The spacecraft, called Giotto and owned by 11 Western European nations, is designed to pass within 300 miles of the frozen nucleus of the famous comet. Two Soviet and one Japanese spacecraft are already heading for an exploration of Halley’s comet as it makes its once-in-a-lifetime swing around the sun. The United States decided not to send a spacecraft to explore the comet because of budget constraints.