space odyssey 2010
We always thought that launching the satellite into orbit was one of the trickiest parts of this project. All wrong! The adventures that our TubeSatKit is having on its trip from Mojave, California to Graz, Austria are legend.
Departure
On September 7th 2010 a parcel measuring aprox. 40x40x15 centimeters was handed over to trustworthy officials of the United States Postal Service®. The Detailed Description of Contents (enter one item per line) on the Customs Declaration Form states Electronics KitTubeSat (Academic), Qty. 1, Value (U.S.$) 300.00. And off it went to Austria; (presumably) by plane.
Quarantine
Not even a week later the parcel had arrived in Vienna. To its great surprise it was held back at the FIXME and put under quarantine. A suspicious customs officer mistrusted the above mentioned Customs Declaration Form and issued a Zollbenachrichtigung. Said form requested proof of payment and/or an invoice to free our parcel from quarantine.