Europe’s new Ariane 6 heavy-lift launcher made its maiden flight on Tuesday 9 July from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, more than four years behind schedule.
The Director General of the European Space Agency (ESA), Josef Aschbacher, felt that this successful launch of “Europe’s new generation of the Arianefamily” effectively “reinstat[ed] European access to space”. He described the day as “historic” for his agency and for Europe.
According to ESA, the lift-off...