Europe’s Ariane 6 ready to ‘blast off’ from spaceport in Kourou
Al Jazeera
Maiden flight of European Space Agency’s (ESA) most powerful rocket set to lift off from Kourou, French Guiana.
Europe’s new Ariane 6 rocket is set to blast off for the first time, carrying with it the continent’s hopes of regaining independent access to space.
The inaugural flight of the European Space Agency’s (ESA) most powerful rocket is scheduled to lift off from Europe’s spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.
The planned time for liftoff was delayed by one hour to 4pm local time (19:00 GMT) after routine checks revealed a “small” data issue which has been resolved, the ESA said on X on Tuesday.
Ariane 6’s maiden flight will also carry 17 different “passengers”, including 11 university micro-satellites, as well as re-entry capsules and small scientific experiments.
Since dawn in Kourou, the vast metal structure housing the rocket has been moved away, unsheathing the 56-metre (183 feet) behemoth.
