Europe's new Ariane 6 rocket launches on debut mission

Europe's new Ariane 6 rocket has finally taken flight, carrying the hopes of a continent on its broad back, News.Az reports citing Space.com.

The Ariane 6 launched for the first time ever today (July 9), lifting off from Europe's Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, at 3:01 p.m. EDT (1901 GMT).

There was a lot riding on this debut: It came a year after the retirement of Ariane 6's predecessor, the workhorse Ariane 5, left Europe unable to launch big satellites on homegrown rockets.

"Ariane 6 will power Europe into space. Ariane 6 will make history," Josef Aschbacher, the director general of the European Space Agency (ESA), said via X today in the leadup to launch.

Today's launch was a long time coming. Development of the Ariane 6 began in late 2014, and its debut was originally envisioned to take place in 2020. But the timeline slipped due to technical issues and outside problems, such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

The delays meant that the Ariane 6 did not overlap with the Ariane 5, which flew 117 orbital missions from 1996 to 2023. The Ariane 5's retirement left Vega, a small-satellite launcher, as the only operational orbital rocket in Europe's stable.

That wasn't an acceptable situation for European space officials, who don't want to be dependent on SpaceX's workhorse Falcon 9 and other foreign rockets to loft their big payloads. So they'd been eagerly awaiting today's launch.

News.Az