After years of development, build, and testing, BepiColombo is arriving at Europe’s spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, in South America for final preflight integration and checkouts. The joint mission between Europe and Japan is now in the home stretch of ground processing ahead of launch. The mission is slated to begin No Earlier Than 5 October 2018 with launch aboard an Ariane 5 rocket that will send Bepicolombo on a seven-year journey to reach the planet Mercury.
