Foreign

THE last European Ariane five rocket lifted off into space on Wednesday.

The rocket blasted off from the European Space Agency’s (ESA) spaceport in Kourou in French Guiana in South America, carrying a German communications satellite and a French military satellite into space.

The German space agency’s Heinrich-Hertz-Satellite would research and test new communications technologies and scenarios, Arianespace wrote in a mission description.

The other satellite, called Syracuse 4B, would enable the French Armed Forces to remain permanently connected during deployments, Arianespace said.

Ariane five had been in service since 1996.

The launch was delayed one day due to bad weather at the launch site and had been on hold since mid-June due to rocket issues.

“Ariane five is now taking its place in the annals of global space history,’’ Martin Sion, chief executive of ArianeGroup, the parent company of Arianespace, said.

“This final successful mission demonstrates once again its supreme reliability in the service of European autonomy and rounds off an exceptional career distinguished by a succession of technological and industrial achievements.’’

The successor model, the Ariane six, was not scheduled to blast off until the end of the year.

The smaller Vega C is also currently not in operation after a launch failure in December. (dpa/NAN) 

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Tags: Last of Europe’s Ariane 5 rockets