A year after Ariane 5 retired after 27 years of flights
Held last night at 10pm. Greek time, the first launch of the new Ariane 6 heavy transport rocket from the European Space Center in French Guiana. With the new rocket the European Space Agency (ESA) is “returning” to Space.
Ariane 6 is the latest in the European Ariane series of rockets and it can launch missions into low orbit, but also farther into Space. Its maiden launch came a year after Ariane 5 was retired after 27 years of missions.
One hour after the rocket took off, the first set of satellites was released and placed into orbit 600 kilometers above Earth. These are satellites and experiments from space agencies, companies, research institutes and universities.
The launch also demonstrated the capabilities of the new purpose-built launch pad created by the French space agency CNES at the French Guiana space centre, which enables faster launch turnover.