Following up on last nights awesome launch of the BepiColombo spacecraft on its mission to study Mercury, I thought it only fitting to share the launch highlights video on the beginning of the mission – the launch of Arianespace VA245! These videos are similar to the ones United Launch Alliance puts out for their launches, […]
Here we have an awesome little video that Arianespace produced for the 100th launch of the Ariane 5 – Flight VA243 – showing some awesome views of engine ignition and lift off. I never get tired of seeing this kind of detailed footage of these launches, of the raw power of these machines as they […]
The Ariane 5 launch vehicle made its 100th flight yesterday, September 25th, carrying 2 communications satellites (Horizons-3e and Azerspace-2/Intelsat 38) successfully into their respective geosynchronous orbits high above the Earth. Ariane 5 is another one of those rocket systems that could be described as a workhorse – it’s an incredibly capable booster in the European […]
This morning marked the final launch of the “Evolution Storable” or ES variant of the amazing Ariane 5 rocket. Without going into great detail on the history of the Ariane 5 launch vehicle and its variants, the “ES” variant combines an improved core stage of the still-flying ECA variant with the older storable propellant second […]
Nearly a month after a launch abort on September 5th (caused by an electrical failure in a Solid Rocket Booster, which was discovered following main engine ignition) an Ariane-5 rocket carrying 2 American communication satellites lifted off from Kourou, French Guiana yesterday. Ariane-5 is the European Space Agencies heavy booster of choice, and although it […]
Yesterday evening, from the Kourou spaceport in French Guiana, an Ariane 5 rocket successfully launched 2 large communications satellites into orbit, one for Brazil and another for South Korea. Ariane 5 is the European Space Agencies heavy booster, using 2 solid rocket motors for the bulk of liftoff thrust, and a core engine burning Hydrogen […]
The European Space Agencies Rosetta mission ended today, September 30th, with the crash landing of the Rosetta spacecraft on comet 67P, its primary target over its 12 year mission. Even though its original launch was delayed resulting in a change of target, and its secondary payload, the Philae lander, had a much shorter mission than […]