Arianespace founded as the world's first commercial launch service provider
- Created organization
- ArianeSpace
Event context
Following the successful first Ariane 1 test launch (Dec 24, 1979), France's CNES and the European Space Agency created Arianespace in March 1980 to promote, market, and manage Ariane launch operations -- the world's first commercial launch service provider. Ownership was restructured in 2015 when Airbus, Safran, and CNES pooled their shares (via the Airbus Safran Launchers/ArianeGroup joint venture) into a holding controlling just under 74% of Arianespace; ArianeGroup now owns 100%.