Wednesday, December 01, 2004

A second chance for Ariane 5ECA

The BBC is reporting that the second launch of the improved Ariane 5ECA will be in January next year. The first flight of the new Ariane 5 variant, in December 2002, was a failure. Leakage in the cooling system resulted in deformation to the nozzle of the main Vulcain-2 engine, which caused an abort in the first few minutes of the flight.

CREDIT: Arianespace
An Ariane 5 lifting off from Kourou in French Guiana