25 years of Ariane 5

Date: Wed, Jun 14, 2023 | 06:30 - 06:57 GMT | 08:30 - 08:57 CEST

Replay: Wed, Jun 14, 2023 | 15:00 - 15:27 GMT | 17:00 - 17:27 CEST

Type: ESA TV Exchange

Format: 16:9

For a quarter century, Ariane 5 has been Europe’s heavy-lift workhorse. Flying from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, Ariane 5 has carried to space a long series of commercial and scientific missions. Notable payloads include ESA’s comet-chasing Rosetta, a dozen of Europe’s Galileo navigation satellites – orbited with just three launches – the James Webb Space Telescope and, in April 2023, ESA’s Juice mission to Jupiter.

Ariane 5 more than doubled the mass-to-orbit capacity of its predecessor, Ariane 4, which flew from 1988 until 2003 as a favourite of the telecommunications industry with its need to put large payloads into very high geosynchronous orbits. Ariane 5’s capacity enabled it to orbit two large telecommunications satellites on a single launch, or to push very large payloads into deep space.

After 117 flights, Ariane 5 is being replaced by an all-new launch vehicle, Ariane 6.

More information at: https://www.esa.int/Enabling_Support/Space_Transportation/Ariane

Preview and download:
https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Videos/2023/06/25_years_of_Ariane_5