Ariane 30th birthday

On 24 December 1979, Ariane made its first flight from French Guiana, marking the beginning of 30 years of success and giving Europe a guaranteed independent access to space. With Ariane, ESA could develop its own programmes in many different domains: telecommunications, Earth observation, science and exploration. Europe was the pioneer in the civil launch space market, with the creation of Arianespace, the world-leading space transportation company.