The inaugural launch of the Ariane 6 rocket will take place between June 15 and July 31, 2024

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The European Space Agency has finally revealed a slot for this highly anticipated first flight of the Ariane 5 successor. The development of the new European heavy launcher has suffered from numerous delays.

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A test of the Ariane 6 heavy launcher in Kourou, French Guiana, November 23, 2023. (P. PIRON / ARIANEGROUP VIA AFP)

The inaugural launch of the European Ariane 6 rocket is planned between June 15 and July 31, 2024, the European Space Agency (ESA) announced Thursday, November 30. “It’s a good day for space Europe”, declared Josef Aschbacher, director of the ESA, during a press conference. The first flight of the future European heavy launcher was initially planned for 2020, but delays have accumulated.

The European Space Agency is planning two important milestones in December. On the 7th, first, with a firing test of the upper stage, planned at the center of Lampoldshausen (Germany). On the 15th, the development teams will carry out a new combined test in Kourou, which will end with a brief ignition of the engine.

The Ariane 5 rocket took off for the last time on July 5, bowing out due in particular to a high cost. More powerful and more competitive with costs halved, the new version was designed to resist Elon Musk’s American company SpaceX, which carries out more than one shot per week. The successive postponements have not prevented the order book from filling up, since around thirty launches are already planned. It now remains to make this program a reality.


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