18.09.2023
September 1 at Lampoldshausen in Germany, then September 5 at Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou: two major milestones were achieved towards Ariane 6 qualification. At Lampoldshausen, the upper stage was hot-fire tested with the Vinci engine and the Auxiliary Power Unit (APU), and at Kourou, as part of the launcher + launchpad tests, core stage with its Vulcain 2.1 engine was ignited for the first time. These two critical tests were successfully executed by Space Team Europe (ESA, ArianeGroup, CNES, DLR, and Arianespace). Let’s meet the team.