The European-built Ariane 6 rocket launched for the first time on Tuesday from Kourou, French Guiana.
With the debut of Ariane 6, Europe rejoins a launch market that's been dominated by Elon Musk's SpaceX. It's the latest in a European rocket lineage dating to the 1970s, and succeeds the Ariane 5, which launched 117 times until it retired last year. Ariane 6 comes in two versions: Ariane 62, with two solid rocket boosters that can deliver as much as 10,000 kilograms of cargo to low Earth orbit ; and Ariane 64, a modelSign up for NBC New York newsletters.
Ariane 6's first voyage has been postponed by years, delays fueled by technical issues, the Covid pandemic and the war in Ukraine.Soyuz rockets. A smaller alternative European rocket, the Vega-C, has been grounded since a failed 2022 launch — and isn't expected to fly again until later this year at the earliest.