Europe will launch its first Ariane 6 rocket on July 9, 2024

The first launch of the new Ariane 6 rocket is scheduled for July 9, 2024 from the European Spaceport in French Guiana, ESA Director General Joseph Aschbacher announced on June 5, 2024 at the ILA Berlin Air Show. Ariane 6 team partners Joseph Aschbacher was joined by ArianeGroup CEO Martin Sion, CNES CEO Philippe Baptiste and Arianespace CEO Stéphane Israel on stage to announce the milestone. Walter Pelzer, Director General of the German Space Agency DLR, was also present on this occasion. Ariane 6 is Europe’s new heavy launch vehicle and replaces its highly successful predecessor, Ariane 5.

Ariane 6 is typical and graceful. Modular and flexible, Ariane 6 features a reusable upper stage, allowing it to launch multiple missions to different orbits during a single flight. ESA Director General Joseph Aschbacher: “Ariane 6 heralds a new era of independent and versatile European spaceflight. This powerful rocket is the result of many years of dedication and creativity of thousands of people from all over Europe and, when launched, will restore Europe’s independent access to space. “I am pleased to announce that the first launch attempt will take place on July 9th. I would like to thank the teams on the ground for their tireless efforts, teamwork and dedication in this final part of the initial launch campaign.” Ariane 6 is Europe’s rocket for today’s needs, and it is adaptable to our ambitions “Future.”

For the development of Ariane 6, ESA is working as launch system engineer with prime contractor ArianeGroup to develop the launch vehicle and with CNES to develop the ground segment. ESA is the operator responsible for the first flight, and for subsequent flights, Arianespace is the launch services provider that markets and operates the Ariane 6 launch vehicle for institutional and commercial customers to deliver a variety of missions to orbit to bring Earth. “Announcing the planned date for the first flight of Ariane 6 puts us in the final phase of the launch campaign and we are in the midst of completing the final steps. This flight is the culmination of years of development and testing by ArianeGroup teams and partners across Europe,” said Martin Sion, CEO. Paving the way for commercial flights and significant growth over the next two years, it is a powerful, versatile and scalable launch vehicle that will ensure Europe’s independent access to space from the Ariane constellation.

“Once again, the announcement of the date of the inaugural flight of Ariane 6 from the Guyana Space Center is a decisive step towards European sovereignty in the field of access to space, and reaching this date has been made possible thanks to the tremendous efforts made by all entities in the preliminary phase,” said Philippe Baptiste, CEO. To the French National Center for Space Studies: “I would like to pay tribute to the collective achievement of overcoming the obstacles in recent months. And now the final modifications for the European launch are ready to go: we are all behind Ariane 6”.

“With 30 missions in our order book, Ariane 6 has already earned the trust of institutional and dealer customers, and we are preparing for the second launch of Ariane 6 by the end of the year, followed by a steady increase to approximately ten launches per year. “We are preparing for the second launch of Ariane 6 by the end of the year, followed by a steady increase to approximately ten launches per year,” added Stefan Israel, CEO of Ariane 6. Arianespace, “Once we reach cruising speed. “It’s a great challenge for Arianespace and our partners.” The European Spaceport in French Guiana integrated several different payloads onto the Ariane 6 payload carrier before launch. The last important phase before launch is the rehearsal and once this activity is completed, the Ariane 6 Task Force will provide an update. Shared about the first trip.

source: European Space Agency