Ariane 6 Rocket Blasts Off After Years of Delay, Paves Way for European ‘Sovereignty' in Space

Kourou: The European space program took a major blow when the European rocket Ariane 6 successfully blasted off for the first time on Tuesday, releasing satellites into orbit. The rocket took off from a Launchpad in Kourou, French Guiana at 19:00 GMT or 00:30 IST.  

Ariane 6, which is developed at a cost of €4 Billion or 30000 crore Indian rupees, will give sovereignty to European governments and companies to access space independently from the rest of the world.

Ariane 6 project was delayed by 4 years leaving Europe without any satellite launching capacity. But, this successful launch proved to be a milestone in Europe’s space journey offering Europe an independent way to send its satellites into space once again.

“It's a historic day for Europe," European Space Agency head Josef Aschbacher said.  

NASA chief Bill Nelson wrote on X congratulating the European Space Agency for this achievement.   

The launch was delayed an hour in the morning due to a minor technical issue, but afterward, liftoff proceeded smoothly under clear skies.

Later, the mission encountered a minor setback when the rocket slightly diverted from its course during the final stages. Overall project was not hampered, as the initial goal of deploying the satellites into orbit was already delivered. 

Martin Sion, the CEO of the rocket manufacturer Ariane Group said that even though the rocket launched successfully, their job is not done yet. Their work is only finished once the special engine in the top part of the rocket, called Vinci, has come back down to Earth.  
 
The launch carried a bunch of mini-satellites built by universities, some science experiments, and even two special pods that will be dropped off later in the mission so they can fall back to Earth.