The saga of the Ariane launcher

Freeing even the smallest object from the Earth's gravity and transforming it into an artificial satellite requires an "exceptional machine," akin to a train made up almost entirely of tank cars of fuel for the needs of a very demanding locomotive.

In 1883, the Russian schoolteacher Konstantin Tsiolkovsky calculated that jet propulsion in the vacuum of space was possible. Imagining the principle of a multi-stage rocket, he thus established the basis for research into space transport. Several decades later, in 1957, the Soviet Union sent Sputnik 1 into orbit, the Earth's first artificial satellite.

In the 1970s, the Americans and Soviets divided up the launch market. Little by little, the market matured and gradually shifted from a performance-based perspective to the notion of service. This led to the emergence of commercial space transport. In 1973, Europe, concerned with its independence in this field, started the Ariane programme. The first test flight was launched successfully on 24 December 1979.

Very quickly, technical success brought commercial success. Within 12 years Ariane 1 to 4 had launched over half of the commercial satellites in the world. The more powerful Ariane 5 has now taken over, with the objective of confirming European dominance in the civil launch market, in spite of stiff competition from the US, Russia, China and Japan.

^{Last updated: January 2010}