The European Space Agency's Rosetta spacecraft was mated to launch hardware that will eventually be connected to the top of its Ariane 5, in preparation for its February 26 launch. If all goes well, Rosetta will blast off from the space centre in Kourou, French Guiana and begin its long journey to meet up with Comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko in 2014. The launch will give the 3,000 kg spacecraft enough velocity to make its escape trajectory, but it will still need to make two gravity assisting flybys of Earth, and one past Mars to get enough speed to reach the comet.