Final Ariane 5 rocket blasts off amid Europe rocket crisis
- The workhorse spacecraft is bowing out after 27 years of launches, in a flight ‘charged with emotion’
- Amid tensions with Russia and delays to next-generation vessels, the continent has found itself with no way to independently launch heavy space missions
Europe’s workhorse Ariane 5 rocket blasted off for a final time on Wednesday, with its farewell flight after 27 years of launches coming at a difficult time for European space efforts.
Faced with soaring global competition, the continent has unexpectedly found itself without a way to independently launch heavy missions into space due to delays to the next-generation Ariane 6 and Russia withdrawing its rockets.
The 117th and final flight of an Ariane 5 rocket took place at around 7pm on Wednesday from Europe’s spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.
The launch had been postponed twice. It was originally scheduled on June 16, but was called off because of problems with pyrotechnical lines in the rocket’s booster, which have since been replaced. Another launch planned for Tuesday was delayed by a day due to bad weather.
The final payload on an Ariane 5 is a French military communications satellite and a German communications satellite.