Europe's Ariane 5 rocket lifts off for final time
July 6, 2023
The European Space Agency said its Ariane 5 rocket successfully took off from French Guinea for the final time on Wednesday night.
The rocket carried two military communications satellites, namely, Germany's Heinrich Hertz (H2Sat) and France's Syracuse 4b, into geostationary orbit.
The launch caps 27 years of service for Ariane 5. The rocket's arrival in 1996 allowed Europe to establish itself in the communications satellite market.
Notably, the Ariane 5 rocket successfully launched NASA's James Webb Space Telescope in December 2021.
What is the Ariane 5?
Ariane 5 is the ESA's "workhorse" rocket and one of the most reliable rockets, the agency describes on the website.
The 53-meter-tall rocket lauched from the ESA spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, on South America's northeast coast.
Wednesday's launch marked the 117th and final mission. It lifted off at 7 p.m. local time (2300 GMT), according to the live broadcast.
The launch was delayed twice as it was originally scheduled for June 16. But a technical problem the first time around, and bad weather the second, postponed the mission.
Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly noted the location of the ESA spaceport as being in French Guinea, rather than Guiana. This has been corrected.
rm/rc (Reuters, AFP)