Arianespace wrapped up another successful year of operations with todays orbiting of the French Helios 2B military observation satellite, which was lofted on the seventh Ariane 5 launch in 2009.
This daytime mission underscored Ariane 5s capability to accommodate a full range of satellite payloads by placing Helios 2B into a Sun-synchronous polar orbit during a flight lasting just under one hour.
@JohnnyKS5 Ask the soviets and their proton rocket arsenal :D
Murdoch493 4 months ago
@JohnnyKS5 , to big , to power full and to expensive for sending astronautes. 100 millions € for sending astronautes ?! no way...
XBotticelli 4 months ago
@JohnnyKS5 No.
bartsimpson58 4 months ago
@JohnnyKS5 Yeah it looks wierd. But "Zero" in the Ariane countdown program is not liftoff but main engine ignition. The engine is then brought to full power while the computer makes final checks. If everything checks out the boosters are ignited approx. 7 secs later.
compuholic82 7 months ago
Could this rocket carry astronauts to the ISS?
JohnnyKS5 7 months ago
lol
He's counting and at "zero" the rocket did not liftoff :D
JohnnyKS5 8 months ago