Ariane 5 is a European expendable launch system designed to deliver payloads into geostationary transfer orbit or low Earth orbit. It is manufactured under the authority of the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES), with EADS Astrium Space Transportation (Astrium) as prime contractor, leading a consortium of sub-contractors. The rocket is operated and marketed by Arianespace as part of the Ariane programme....
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Ariane 5 is a European expendable launch system designed to deliver payloads into geostationary transfer orbit or low Earth orbit. It is manufactured under the authority of the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES), with EADS Astrium Space Transportation (Astrium) as prime contractor, leading a consortium of sub-contractors. The rocket is operated and marketed by Arianespace as part of the Ariane programme. Astrium builds the rockets in Europe and Arianespace launches them from the Guiana Space Centre.
It succeeded Ariane 4, but does not derive from it directly. Its development took 10 years and cost $7 billion. Ariane 5 has been refined since the first launch in successive versions, G, G+, GS, ECA, and most recently, ES. ESA originally designed Ariane 5 to launch the manned mini shuttle Hermes, and thus intended it to be "human rated" from the beginning.
Two satellites can be mounted using a SYLDA carrier (SYstème de Lancement Double Ariane)....
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