Europe’s storied heavy lifter has entered retirement after 27 years of service.
The last flight of Europe’s most reliable rocket has taken place.

The strong Ariane 5 sent off today (July 5) on the last-ever mission of its celebrated profession, which started way back in 1996 and presently incorporates 117 orbital takeoffs.

At 6 p.m. EDT (2200 GMT), the Ariane 5 rocket launched from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, kicking off today’s mission. The vehicle’s 103-foot-tall solid rocket boosters separated from the core stage about 2.5 minutes into its flight. The core stage’s single engine continued to burn, propelling the mission’s two satellites into the sky.

The center stage shut down something like nine minutes after takeoff, and the upper stage isolated and started its own consume. Roughly 30 minutes into flight, the principal satellite, called Heinrich-Hertz, was delivered into geostationary exchange circle high above Earth. The second payload, Syracuse 4B, followed about three minutes later.

On today’s launch webcast, shortly after that second deployment, Stéphane Isral, CEO of Arianespace, the France-based company that operated the rocket, stated, “Ariane 5 has perfectly finished its work.” It is now a well-known launcher.”

Heinrich-Hertz is a test communications satellite that will test new hardware and serve as a test platform for scientific and technical experiments conducted by universities and the public sector.

The German space agency, which goes by the acronym DLR, will be in charge of executing its mission. The first German satellite to be used for such technology demonstration and communications research is Heinrich-Hertz.

The Syracuse 4B replaces the Syracuse 4A, which debuted in 2021. Airbus Defence and Space built the pair for the French government to replace Syracuse satellites 3A and 3B as military communication relays.

Syracuse 4B and Heinrich-Hertz are on their way to a geostationary orbit, which is about 22,200 miles (35,800 kilometers) above the surface of the Earth. By performing a series of engine burns, they will get there.

The Ariane 5, which out-launched the previous four Ariane rockets, ended its nearly 30-year operational career with today’s flight.

An ESA spokesperson told Space.com that “Ariane 5 leaves behind an incredible legacy of technical prowess and reliability.” Ariane 5 has been a significant asset for Europe throughout its operational life to ensure its autonomous space access.”

Built by Airbus Defence and Space, the two-stage rocket was operated by Arianespace for ESA and CNES, the French space agency. There have been a few upgrades to the Ariane 5 and it has flown in five different configurations. In 2009, the Ariane 5 EC/A and ES, the most recent versions, began operation. The ancestor plan, the Ariane G5, sent off from 2005 to 2009, subsequent to succeeding the fleeting G+ rendition, which sent off three missions in 2004, and the debut Ariane 5 G before that.

Ariane 5 was launched for the first time in 1996, but it was unable to reach orbit at the time, triggering an auto-destruct abort in mid-flight. After that underlying disappointment, the rocket became one of the world’s most dependable launchers. Of Ariane 5’s 117 missions and 239 payloads conveyed to circle, the send off vehicle has performed at a 96% achievement rate, as per ESA.

The Ariane 6, the successor to the Ariane 5, has been in development for more than a decade. Ariane 6 is another launcher framework, which will be more adaptable, cost-productive and serve more kinds of dispatches contrasted with Ariane 5,” said an ESA delegate. The new rocket from Europe will be made to fly in two different configurations, the A62 and A64, which each carry two and four solid rocket boosters.

The new heavy lifter was initially scheduled to launch in 2020, but numerous setbacks have repeatedly delayed that date. Since Ariane 6 is now expected to launch in late 2023, Europe will not have any other launch options until it is ready.

“Where essential, elective launcher choices have been examined and assessed by ESA from a specialized, timetable and security perspective to guarantee the coherence of administration of European projects,” said an ESA official. Instead of waiting for the Ariane 6 to come online, it was reported in April that the European Commission was looking into the possibility of launching some of the European Union’s Galileo navigation satellites with a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket.

“ESA and its accomplices are working tenaciously to get quickly and dependably the debut trip of Ariane 6, which stays the favored send off choice for European mission requiring a weighty send off vehicle,” said an organization representative.

The swan song of today’s Ariane 5 was originally scheduled for June 16, but it was canceled the day before because of problems with the pyrotechnical transmission lines for the solid rocket boosters. Bad weather prevented the planned second attempt on Tuesday, July 4.