First Ariane 6 launch of European rocket

The powerful European-built Ariane 6 rocket made its long-awaited liftoff on Tuesday, as the region returned to a launch market dominated by Elon Musk’s SpaceX.

Ariane 6, standing over 200 feet tall and powered by its Vulcain engine and a pair of boosters, launched from Kourou in French Guiana at 3 p.m. ET and then reached orbit successfully.

The rocket is a combined effort of about $4.5 billion overseen by the European Space Agency (ESA) and built by ArianeGroup – an Airbus and Safran joint venture. Thirteen nations contribute to the Ariane 6 program.

It’s the latest in a European rocket lineage dating to the 1970s, and succeeds the Ariane 5, which launched 117 times until it retired last year. Ariane 6 comes in two versions: Ariane 62, with two solid rocket boosters that can deliver as much as 10,000 kilograms of cargo to low Earth orbit (LEO); and Ariane 64, a model with four solid rockets boosters which can carry as many as 21,000 kilograms to LEO.

In the launch market, Ariane 6 falls in the “heavy” class of rockets.

Ariane 6’s debut flight is a demonstration mission for ESA, and will haul a variety of small satellites and spacecraft. After liftoff, the flight will last nearly three hours before it completes the deployment of 11 spacecraft, and also includes a key series of tests of the rocket’s upper stage engine.

Following its full-scale invasion of its neighbor, Russia suspended all European mission launches on its Soyuz rockets. A smaller alternative European rocket, the Vega-C, has been grounded since a failed 2022 launch — and isn’t expected to fly again until later this year at the earliest.

Despite rising costs and long delays, European leaders continue to support the Ariane 6 program, stressing the importance of the continent having its own access to space – rather than relying on SpaceX.

But Europe has already had to turn to SpaceX several times out of necessity, as the company enjoys a near monopoly on the global launch market.