European Space Agency: New Rocket Launch

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[It pleases me to see the Europeans running their own space program too and having their ability to launch satellites, etc. It's time for Europe to arise. Jan]

Ariane 6 Blasts Off

The European Space Agency’s next-generation Ariane 6 rocket lifted off for the first time yesterday from French Guiana, a French territory in northeastern South America. The long-awaited launch (see video) is part of Europe’s efforts to regain independent access to space after roughly a year of relying on Elon Musk’s SpaceX for missions such as satellite deployments.

The $4.5B rocket carried a variety of satellites and experimental spacecraft, most of which were successfully deployed. However, a technical issue during the flight’s final phase prevented the last batch of cargo from being released. Ariane 6’s maiden voyage was set for 2020 but faced delays due to technical issues, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Russia-Ukraine war. The 200-foot-tall rocket comes in two versions: Ariane 62 and Ariane 64. Both succeed Ariane 5, which retired one year ago. Ariane 5 had exploded minutes into its inaugural flight in 1996 before achieving 112 successful flights out of 117 launches.

The Ariane 6 has 30 missions lined up, including 18 to help build out Amazon’s new Kuiper satellite-internet constellation.