The last Ariane 5 rocket launched Wednesday, capping off a two-plus decade run for Europe’s workhorse vehicle that once sent the nearly-$10 billion James Webb Space Telescope into orbit.
(Bloomberg) — The last Ariane 5 rocket launched Wednesday, capping off a two-plus decade run for Europe’s workhorse vehicle that once sent the nearly-$10 billion James Webb Space Telescope into orbit.
The Ariane 5, operated by the European commercial launch provider Arianespace SA, successfully left French Guiana with a pair of satellites for the German Space Agency and the French Directorate of Armaments.
Arianespace plans on flying its successor, the Ariane 6, before the end of the year. It is being built by ArianeGroup, a joint venture of Airbus SE and Safran SA.
The European Space Agency, which oversees the Ariane program, agreed in 2014 to develop the updated model with a targeted 2020 launch date. The rocket’s debut has been repeatedly delayed.
While Arianespace is targeting a 2023 launch, one of the Ariane 6’s major parts suppliers predicted in May that it wouldn’t fly until early 2024.
Read more: Berlin to Back French-Built Rockets in Race Against Musk
Over the last two and a half decades, Arianespace has relied on the Ariane 5 to launch relatively heavy payloads to high orbits over earth. The rocket has successfully lofted numerous key communications satellites into space, including the 2021 launch of the Webb telescope for NASA.
Arianespace had intended to launch this particular flight from Europe’s primary spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, on June 16, but it delayed plans after finding a technical issue with the rocket’s “pyrotechnical transmission lines.”
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