Xinhua
Ariane 5 rocket launched into space at the Guiana Space Centre on July 5.
Europe's Ariane 5 rocket has completed successfully its final flight, placing two payloads into the planned geostationary transfer orbits, the European Space Agency (ESA) announced on Thursday.
Flight VA261 blasted off from Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana at 7pm local time (2200 GMT) Wednesday, and the mission lasted about 33 minutes from lift-off to release of final payload, the agency said in a press release.
Ariane 5's capacity enabled it to orbit two large telecommunications satellites on a single launch, or to push very large payloads into deep space, the agency noted, adding that Ariane 5's notable payloads include the ESA's comet-chasing Rosetta, a dozen of Europe's Galileo navigation satellites and ESA's Juice mission to Jupiter.
According to the ESA, Ariane 5 only had two major failures of launch in its 27 years of service, first in 1996 for its inaugural flight and another in 2022.
Ariane 5 rocket has been the cornerstone of Europe's independent access to space with 117 launches. The inaugural flight of its successor Ariane 6, a new heavy-lift launch vehicle, is expected no earlier than the fourth quarter of 2023, the ESA said last year.