Ariane 5

Work has begun on a second launch pad at Kourou that was previously used for Ariane 5.

Arianespace’s revenue decline reflects the retirement of Ariane 5, the delay in Ariane 6’s introduction, the rise of SpaceX as the dominant commercial launch provider, and repeated failures of the Vega-C rocket.

The Ariane 62 is designed to be 50% cheaper to manufacture than the Ariane 5.

The AEE main hall displays a scale model of the Ariane 5 engine and models of Spanish satellites such as Paz and Ingenio.

Successful recovery of a Themis stage would signal a major shift in the European launch landscape away from historically expendable architectures such as Ariane 5 and Ariane 6.

Europe has been without its own heavy-lift capability since the retirement of the Ariane 5 in 2023.

The post‑Ariane 5 launch gap forced European institutional missions to rely on American rockets.

ArianeGroup’s manufacturing facilities in France and Germany use horizontal assembly and 3D-printed components to reduce costs and complexity compared to the Ariane 5 predecessor.

As of August 28, 2017, SES moved SES-14 to an Ariane 5 ECA launch in early Q1 2018 and planned to have SpaceX launch SES-12 on a Falcon 9 in Q1 2018.

The Ariane 5 rocket has a roughly four-meter-diameter payload fairing that required Webb’s mirror to fold for launch.

Thales Alenia Space in Belgium has more than fifty years of experience in space transportation dating to the early 1970s and has developed and manufactured thousands of components and systems for the European launcher portfolio including Ariane 1 through Ariane 5 and now Ariane 6.

The original SpainSat was launched aboard an Ariane 5 in 2006 and is almost 20 years into its originally planned 15-year design life.

The transfer of the former Ariane 5 assembly building to Avio and its transformation into the Vega Assembly Building represents a concrete step in the reorganization of European launch infrastructures.

In December, the assembly building used for the Ariane 5 launcher was transferred to Avio and renamed the Vega Assembly Building.

Webb was launched on an Ariane 5 rocket from Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana on 25 December 2021.

Previous Galileo satellites were launched using Ariane 5 and Russian Soyuz rockets.

The VIKI system made its debut aboard the Ariane 5 flight that launched the James Webb Space Telescope in December 2021.

The VIKI system was qualified by ArianeGroup for use on both Ariane 5 and Ariane 6 missions two years after the initial contract was signed.

Maxime Verrière previously worked at ArianeGroup for five years as a structural engineer on Ariane 5 ME and later Ariane 6.