An unmanned spacecraft built by the European Space Agency was on cue yesterday to blast off atop a Russian rocket on a Martian mission that includes dropping a British-built lander to search for life on the planet.

　　The Mars Express spacecraft was to be launched by the Soyuz FG booster rocket from the Russian-operated Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan late last night, according to the Russian Space Forces, which runs the launchpad. The space vehicle, which cost about US million, will initially be putsintosEarth orbit, and about 90 minutes later is to be given the final push that will send it on a six-month journey to Mars - the ESA's first interplanetary mission.