"launches from French Guiana are able to take larger payloads into space than from spaceports at higher latitudes. In addition, equatorial launches give spacecraft an extra 'push' of nearly 500 m/s due to the higher rotational velocity of the Earth at the equator compared to near the Earth's poles where rotational velocity approaches zero. The Ariane 5 rocket is ESA's primary launcher. It has been in service since 1997 and replaced Ariane 4. Two different variants are currently in use. The heaviest and most used version, the , delivers two communications satellites of up to 10 tonnes into GTO. It"
"only flight of the Europa-II, which ended in failure due to a guidance problem. The launch site was mothballed, and later demolished. When the Ariane 1 programme was started, to replace the failed ELDO programme, a new launch site was built on the site of the former CECLES pad. This was designated Ensemble de Lancement Ariane (""ELA""). The first Ariane 1 launch occurred on 24 December 1979. ELA was also used by Ariane 2 and 3 rockets, which first flew on 31 May 1986 and 4 August 1984 respectively. ELA was redesignated ELA-1 when the Ariane 4 entered service in"
"to repeat the mistakes of Europa. The company proposed to build a new heavy launch vehicle, which would later be called the Ariane, to take the place of Europea. While other European nations were invited to participate, it would be French officials that would be primarily responsible and make the most important decisions. This approach was agreed upon with several other nations; during 1979, the first Ariane performed its first flight, being an immediate success. With this, the French went on to gain a strong advantage over the United States, which had centred its efforts on the Space Shuttle. However,"
"orbit with a family of Ariane launch vehicles. France was the largest stakeholder in the Ariane development programme. Immediately following the successful first test launch of an Ariane 1 on 24 December 1979, The French space agency CNES and ESA created a new company—""Arianespace""—for the purpose of promoting, marketing, and managing Ariane operations. Three addition test flights were carried out, with one failure and two more successes. The first commercial launch took place on 10 September 1982, and ended in failure when a turbopump failed in the third stage. The six remaining flights of Ariane 1 were successful, with the"
"duration of 57 seconds. It could carry one tonne warhead for a range of 1,600 kilometres (990 mi), placing European Russia and Moscow in range from the Adriatic Sea. Italy has been active in the space sector since 1957, conducting launch and control operations from the Luigi Broglio Space Centre. The advanced Scout and Vega launchers currently used by the European Space Agency (ESA) derive their technological basis partially from Alfa studies. Alfa (rocket) Alfa was the designation of an Italian ballistic missile program that started in 1971 under the control of the GRS (Gruppo di Realizzazione Speciale Interforze). Starting"
"the Ariane 4 managed to capture 50 per cent of the market in launching commercial satellites, soundly demonstrating Europe's ability to compete in the commercial launch sector. In February 2003, the final Ariane 4 was launched; Arianespace had decided to retire the type in favour of the newer and larger Ariane 5, which effectively replaced it in service. In 1973, eleven nations decided to pursue joint collaboration in the field of space exploration and formed a new pan-national organisation to undertake this mission, the European Space Agency (ESA). Six years later, in December 1979, the arrival of a capable European"
"and Germany. On November 5, 1971, Europa-2 was launched for the first time, but unsuccessfully. The failure of the rocket led to the consideration of a Europa-3 rocket design. However, Europa-3 was never created and the lack of funding prompted the merging of the European Launcher Development Organisation and the European Space Research Organization to form the European Space Agency. Overall, the European Launcher Development Organization planned eleven launches, only ten of which actually occurred. Of the nine actual launches, four were successful. Four other launches were unsuccessful and there was one launch that was terminated. The first launch, F-1,"
"was equipped with 4 Viking engines developed by the Société Européenne de Propulsion. The second stage had a single Viking engine. The third stage had one LOX/LH2 bipropellant engine capable of a thrust of 7,000 kgf (69 kN). The fourth stage was powered by a single Mage-1 solid rocket booster producing a thrust of 20 kN. This design was kept in the Ariane series until Ariane 4. On 24 December 1979, the first Ariane launch, designated as ""L-O1"", was conducted, which was successful. However, in 1980, the second launch, ""L-O2"" ended in a failure shortly after takeoff, which had been"
"expendable launch system was marked when the first Ariane 1 launcher was successfully launched from the Guiana Space Centre at Kourou, French Guiana. The Ariane 1 soon became considered to be a capable and competitive launcher in comparison to rival platforms offered by the Soviet Union and the United States of America, and it was quickly followed by improved derivatives in the form of the Ariane 2 and Ariane 3. By early 1986, the Ariane 1, along with the Ariane 2 and Ariane 3, had become the dominant launcher on the world market. In January 1982, the ESA issued its"
"Ariane 1 Ariane 1 was the first rocket in the Ariane family of expendable launch systems. It was developed and operated by the European Space Agency (ESA), which had been formed in 1973, the same year that development of the launch had commenced. Ariane 1 was the first launcher to be developed with the primary purpose of sending commercial satellites into geosynchronous orbit. Crucially, it was designed with the ability of sending a pair of satellites into orbit on a single launcher, thus reducing costs. As the size of satellites grew, Ariane 1 quickly gave way to the more powerful"
"as being a superior design, partly due to reduce the cost of the project via the elimination of transition test launchers. It would still use the Blue Streak as the first stage. The ELDO later disagreed, but the French would ultimately get their way when Eldo B became the foundation for the later Ariane launcher, which would first launch in 1979. By April 1966, the project's estimated costs had increased to £150 million from an initial estimate of £70 million. By this point, hopes amongst several of the participants were not high that Europa would be suitable for the envisioned"
"was persuaded to placed an order for two Intelsat IVs to be launched using Ariane. This was considered a major coup for the programme as Intelsat was viewed as heavily committed to using the rival Space Shuttle launcher for a large number of its satellites at that point. One week later, ESA announced its commitment to a production run of 10 Ariane 1 launchers. There was considerable pressure for Ariane to perform its maiden flight prior to end of 1979. It was decided that Ariane should launch on 15 December 1979 and, 38 hours prior the launch, the countdown was"
"Ariane 2 and Ariane 3 launchers, which were heavily based upon the original rocket. The Ariane 4 was the last rocket to heavily draw upon the Ariane 1, as the successive Ariane 5 having been developed using a far greater level of all-new elements. In 1973, eleven European countries decided to pursue joint collaboration in the field of space exploration and formed a new pan-national organisation to undertake this mission, the European Space Agency (ESA). For some time prior to the ESA's formation, France had been lobbying for the development of a new European expendable launch system to serve as"
"first launch in 1979, there have been several versions of the Ariane launch vehicle: The new Ariane 6 vehicle is in development. It would have a similar payload capacity to the Ariane 5 but have considerably lower costs. Tentatively, its first flight is planned for 2020. Arianespace Arianespace SA is a multinational company founded in 1980 as the world's first commercial launch service provider. It undertakes the operation and marketing of the Ariane programme. The company offers a number of different launch vehicles: the heavy-lift Ariane 5 for dual launches to geostationary transfer orbit, the Soyuz-2 as a medium-lift alternative,"
"March 25, 1979, and was first launched on April 12, 1981—the 20th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's space flight—with a crew of two. ""Challenger"" (OV-099) was delivered to KSC in July 1982, ""Discovery"" (OV-103) in November 1983, ""Atlantis"" (OV-104) in April 1985 and ""Endeavour"" in May 1991. ""Challenger"" was originally built and used as a Structural Test Article (STA-099), but was converted to a complete orbiter when this was found to be less expensive than converting ""Enterprise"" from its Approach and Landing Test configuration into a spaceworthy vehicle. On April 24, 1990, ""Discovery"" carried the Hubble Space Telescope into space during"
"and an orbital period of 115.6 minutes. It was successfully intercepted by Kosmos 843 on 21 July. As of 2009, debris is still in orbit. Kosmos 839 was the third of ten Lira satellites to be launched, of which all but the first were successful. Lira was derived from the earlier DS-P1-M satellite, which it replaced. Kosmos 839 Kosmos 839 ( meaning ""Cosmos 839"") was a satellite which was used as a target for tests of anti-satellite weapons. It was launched by the Soviet Union in 1976 as part of the Dnepropetrovsk Sputnik programme, and used as a target for"
"24 April 1978. Kosmos 849 was the seventeenth of nineteen DS-P1-I satellites to be launched. Of these, all reached orbit successfully except the seventh. Kosmos 849 Kosmos 849 ( meaning ""Cosmos 849""), also known as DS-P1-I No.17 was a satellite which was used as a radar target for anti-ballistic missile tests. It was launched by the Soviet Union in 1976 as part of the Dnepropetrovsk Sputnik programme. It was launched aboard a Kosmos-2I 63SM rocket, from Site 133/1 at Plesetsk. The launch occurred at 09:30 UTC on 18 August 1976. Kosmos 849 was placed into a low Earth orbit with"
"of Britain's withdrawal from participation in the ELDO, it was decided to replace the British-built Blue Streak, which comprised the first stage of the organisation's multinational launcher, known as Europa, with the French-built Diamant taking its place. All work on the Europa programme was terminated only a few years later due to the high failure rate encountered. Meanwhile, Britain decided to focus its efforts on the indigenous Black Arrow launcher instead. During 1974, the European Space Agency (ESA) was founded for this purpose; the ESA effectively enabled the competing and overlapping national space programmes to be succeeded by a single"
"of thrust and had a specific impulse (in vacuum) of 280 seconds. A cylindrical black ring supporting four fins was attached to the rocket's base. The Cora was launched on 27 November 1966 and on 18 December 1966 from the CIEES missile range and launch facility at Hammaguir, French Algeria. The December launch was successful. On 25 October 1967 a further launch took place from Biscarosse, which failed. The Cora was the largest rocket ever launched in Western Europe. Cora (rocket) Cora is the name of a single-stage French experimental rocket, which was propelled with nitrogen tetroxide and UDMH. The"
"launches, the 8K71 formed the basis of the 8K72 booster used for the first generation Luna probes. However, six out of nine Luna probes launched on the 8K72 failed. Combined with the failed Sputnik launch on 27 April 1958, this brought the booster's total space launch record to 6 successes in 13 attempts. The improved 8K74 would then form the basis for the later Vostok and Molniya boosters, greatly increasing reliability. The first strategic-missile unit became operational on 9 February 1959 at Plesetsk in north-west Russia. On 15 December 1959 the R-7 missile was tested at Plesetsk for the first"
"outer atmosphere and the ionosphere. These experiments were to be fundamental to build the European Space Agency in the following years: British-built Skylark and French-built Centaure missiles were used for the tests. The high level of both personnel and facilities at Salto di Quirra made it the favourite launching base of ESRO until 1972, following an agreement signed in Paris in 1967 by ESRO's CEO, Pierre Auger. In 1985 the Avio Company built a vertical structure in Salto di Quirra to test the engines of the European vectors Ariane 3 and Ariane 4 and the Zefiro vector, from its prototype"
"EA-41 was tested and improved by military personnel, from October 1942 through to 1945. 22 May 1952: Véronique N1 is successfully launched from the Saharan desert. In 1958, President Charles de Gaulle directed the creation of several space research committees. In 1959, the Comité d'études spatiales was born under the supervision of Pierre Auger. In 1961, de Gaulle signed the creation of the Centre National d' Etudes Spatiales (CNES) to coordinate French space activities. Development of Western Europe's first carrier rocket, the Diamant, began in 1962, first launched in Algeria. November 26, 1965: at 15h 47mn and 21s, Asterix, the"
"first two ESRO sounding rockets were launches from the Salto di Quirra range in Sardinia on 6 and 8 July 1964. They released a payload of barium and ammonia into the ionosphere. The first launch from ESRANGE was made in November 1966. From this point onward the frequency of sounding rocket launches increased dramatically. The Norwegian base in Andøya was also used as a launch site. The British Skylark (83) and French Centaure (64) were the main rockets utilised for the programme. The American Arcas (14), French Bélier (4) and Dragon (2), British Petrel (1) and German/Swiss Zenit (1) were"
"1975. The technological heritage of Alfa is today in light solid-propellant space launchers, like the current Vega rocket. The country in more recent years, under the auspices of European space agency has demonstrated the reentry and landing of return of a capsule called IXV. The development of the program had been spurred on by similar programs in neighbouring countries, particularly Romania, Switzerland and Yugoslavia. However, in 2005, the former Italian President Francesco Cossiga stated that Italy's plans of retaliation during the Cold War consisted in dropping nuclear weapons on Prague and Budapest if there had been a Soviet first strike"
"its maiden flight in 1977. An unpowered glider, it was carried by a modified Boeing 747 airliner called the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft and released for a series of atmospheric test flights and landings. ""Enterprise"" was partially disassembled and retired after completion of critical testing. The remaining orbiters were fully operational spacecraft, and were launched vertically as part of the Space Shuttle stack. ""Columbia"" was the first space-worthy orbiter, and made its inaugural flight in 1981. ""Challenger"", ""Discovery"", and ""Atlantis"" followed in 1983, 1984 and 1985 respectively. In 1986, ""Challenger"" was destroyed in an accident shortly after launch. ""Endeavour"" was built"
"Ariane 4 The Ariane 4 was an expendable launch system, designed by the Centre national d'études spatiales (CNES) while being manufactured by ArianeGroup and marketed by Arianespace. Since its first flight on 15 June 1988 until the final flight, which was performed on 15 February 2003, it attained 113 successful launches out of 116 launches to have been conducted. In 1982, the Ariane 4 programme was approved by the European Space Agency (ESA). Drawing heavily upon the preceding Ariane 3, it was designed to provide a launcher capable of delivering heavier payloads and at a lower cost per kilogram than"
"failure and explosion of Europa 2 upon immense divisions within ELDO. The Europa programme was divided into 4 separate projects intended to follow each other in succession. Ultimately, only two of these projects would have any launches conducted, the third project being cancelled while the fourth remained a case study only: The payload for the rocket was overseen by the European Space Research Organization - ESRO. Satellites were proposed to be launched by 1969 or 1970, in a circular polar orbit at an altitude of 125 miles (200 km). ESRO organised the development of early satellites such as ESRO 2B"
"its re-entry has been known to block radio signals. The IXV is the precursor of the next model named Space Rider, also developed under the Italian PRIDE programme for ESA. During 2011, it was reported that the IXV was planned to conduct its maiden flight as early as 2013; however, the vehicle was later rescheduled to perform its first launch using the newly developed Vega launcher during late 2014. This initial launch window was ultimately missed due to unresolved range safety concerns. Following some delays, on 11 February 2015, the IXV was successfully launched into orbit by a Vega rocket"
"in 1981, but the US Congress failed to approve sufficient funds to make ""Freedom"" a reality. A fleet of four shuttles was built: ""Columbia"", ""Challenger"", ""Discovery"", and ""Atlantis"". A fifth shuttle, ""Endeavour"", was built to replace ""Challenger"", which was destroyed in an accident during launch that killed 7 astronauts on 28 January 1986. Twenty-two Shuttle flights carried a European Space Agency sortie space station called Spacelab in the payload bay from 1983 to 1998. The USSR copied the reusable Space Shuttle orbiter, which it called ""Buran"". It was designed to be launched into orbit by the expendable Energia rocket, and"
"11th launch. At , it was the heaviest single payload until the launch of the first ATV on 9 March 2008 (19,360 kg). The first launch of the ECA variant on 11 December 2002 ended in failure when a main booster problem caused the rocket to veer off-course, forcing its self-destruction three minutes into the flight. Its payload of two communications satellites (Stentor and Hot Bird 7), valued at about EUR 630 million, was lost in the ocean. The fault was determined to have been caused by a leak in coolant pipes allowing the nozzle to overheat. After this failure,"
"Kosmos 839 Kosmos 839 ( meaning ""Cosmos 839"") was a satellite which was used as a target for tests of anti-satellite weapons. It was launched by the Soviet Union in 1976 as part of the Dnepropetrovsk Sputnik programme, and used as a target for Kosmos 843 as part of the Istrebitel Sputnik programme. It was launched aboard a Kosmos-3M carrier rocket, from Site 132/1 at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome. The launch occurred at 21:08 UTC on 8 July 1976. Kosmos 839 was placed into a low Earth orbit with a perigee of , an apogee of , 65.9 degrees of inclination,"
"embark upon larger space projects. In 1973, the European Space Research Organisation (ESRO) - a precursor to the European Space Agency (ESA) - commenced development of a new civilian heavy expendable launch system, later known as the Ariane rocket. Some members of the ESA, such as the French space agency Centre National D'études Spatiales (CNES), held ambitions of greater capability and autonomy in space affairs to avoid an overreliance upon external partners, such as the activities and decisions of the American National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and envisaged the deployment of a European-built human-capable space vehicle that would operate"
"successfully on each occasion, either the second or third stage would fail during every launch, preventing a fully successful launch from ever having been achieved. This disappointing performance heavily contributed to work on the programme being terminated. Europa (rocket) The Europa rocket was an early expendable launch system of the European Launcher Development Organisation (ELDO), which was the precursor to the European Space Agency (ESA). It was developed with the aim to delivering space access technology, and more specifically to facilitate the deployment of European-wide telecommunication and meteorological satellites into orbit. The Blue Streak missile predated the Europa programme, having"