Tag: French Guiana
-
Ariane 6 successfully launches on maiden flight from French Guiana
Europe’s new heavy-lift rocket, Ariane 6, has successfully launched on its maiden flight. Liftoff occurred one hour into a four-hour launch window on Tuesday, July 9, at 19:00 UTC. Ariane 6 launched from the Ensemble de Lancement Ariane-4 (ELA-4) launch pad at the Guiana Space Centre in Kourou, French Guiana. The payload for this mission…
-
ESA sets launch date for Ariane 6 for summer of 2024
The long-awaited maiden flight of Ariane 6 is scheduled to take place between June 15 and July 31, 2024, European Space Agency (ESA) Director General Josef Aschbacher announced at a press conference on Thursday. This followed a successful hot-fire test of the Vulcain 2.1 core stage engine of the new European launcher on its launch…
-
Goodbye to the Ariane 5, the ‘Swiss Knife’ of Europe’s launch industry
The Ariane 5 flew for the very last time on Wednesday, July 5, sending government communication satellites for Germany and France into space. Also known as flight VA261, the rocket launched from the Centre Spatial Guyanais (CSG) in Kourou, French Guiana, at 22:00 UTC. The satellites onboard the Ariane 5 included the Heinrich-Hertz (H2SAT), on…
-
Arianespace suffers failure on first operational Vega-C mission
Arianespace has suffered a failure during Vega-Consolidation’s (Vega-C) first operational launch, which was set to carry the Pléiades Neo 5 and 6 Earth-observation satellites to a Sun-synchronous orbit (SSO). Vega-C lifted off from the Ensemble de Lancement Vega (ELV) pad at the Guiana Space Centre on Dec. 20 at 10:47 PM local time (01:47 UTC…
-
Arianespace launches Soyuz ST-B with new batch of Galileo satellites
Arianespace has launched another two Galileo FOC (Full Operation Capability) global navigation satellites for Europe. Following a weather delay on Friday, the two satellites were launched by a Soyuz ST-B Fregat on the VS26 mission on Saturday. Liftoff occurred on December 4, 2021, at 21:19 Kourou time (Dec 5, 00:19 UTC; Dec 4, 7:19 pm…
-
Arianespace launches Vega’s return to flight with rideshare mission
After a five month grounding, Vega returned to flight following a launch failure in November 2020 — the rocket’s second in as many years. For its 18th mission, Vega launched the Pléiades-Neo 3 satellite along with several smaller rideshare payloads, taking advantage of the Small Satellite Mission Service offering from Arianespace, to Sun-synchronous orbit (SSO).…
-
Spy satellite launch on Soyuz rocket begins refresh of French military space capabilities
The Soyuz ST-A rocket lifts off from French Guiana with France’s CSO 1 military observation satellite Wednesday. Credit: ESA/CNES/Arianespace – Photo Optique Video du CSG – P. Piron Launching for the 20th time from the jungle of South America, a Russian-built Soyuz booster rocketed into orbit Wednesday with a new eye in the sky for…
-
Live coverage: Soyuz lifts off with French spy satellite
Live coverage of the countdown and launch of a Soyuz rocket from French Guiana with the CSO 1 optical surveillance satellite for the French military. Text updates will appear automatically below. Follow us on Twitter. Arianespace’s live video stream begins at 1617 GMT (11:17 a.m. EST) and will be available here. If you appreciate what we…
-
Soyuz raised on launch pad in French Guiana for Arianespace’s last flight of 2018
The Soyuz rocket stands on its launch pad in French Guiana on Friday. Credit: ESA/CNES/Arianespace – Photo Optique Video du CSG – J. Durrenberger A Russian-made Soyuz booster rolled out to its launch pad in French Guiana on Friday, and hydraulic lifts rotated the launcher vertical in preparation for liftoff Tuesday with the first in…
-
Moroccan spy satellite launched aboard Vega rocket
A Vega rocket lifts off Tuesday night with the Mohammed VI-B satellite. Credit: ESA/CNES/Arianespace – Photo Optique Video du CSG – P. Piron A Vega launcher lifted off Tuesday night from a spaceport at the edge of South America’s Amazon rainforest, climbed into orbit on the power of four Italian- and Ukrainian-built rocket stages, and…