Ariane 5 V119

Liftoff of Ariane 5 flight V119 from Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana, on 10 December 1999, carrying then the world's most powerful X-ray astronomy observatory, ESA's XMM-Newton satellite. The was the third successful launch and first commercial flight of Ariane 5 taking the 3.9-tonne science satellite into its far-ranging orbit.