Vega project: Re-entry vehicle of “VEGA” spacecraft

Abstract The VEGA mission aims at an encounter with the comet Halley after a “fly by” over Venus, during which part of the spececraft enters the atmosphere, divided in a Lander and Cruising Balloon. The paper gives a short description of both, as well as the re-entry, landing and cruising programs. After a definition of the preliminary ground tests, the main results obtained by the two VEGA spacecraft are listed.