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25 years of Ariane 5
- Video Online only
- Title 25 years of Ariane 5
- Released: 14/06/2023
- Length 00:01:40
- Language English, French
- Footage Type TV Exchanges
- Copyright ESA
- Description
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 NASA/ESA/CSA 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.