Second Ariane 6 launcher stages at Europe’s Spaceport

Europe’s Spaceport kicks-off new launcher assembly

After a 7,000-kilometre voyage across the Atlantic Ocean on board the Canopée freighter ship, the main and upper stages of the second Ariane 6 launcher have arrived at Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, where they will be assembled together to form the launcher’s central core. This marks the start of the launch campaign at the Spaceport.

From Kourou’s Pariacabo Port, the two stages were carefully disembarked and taken the final couple of kilometers to the Spaceport by road to reach their first on-site destination: the Launcher Assembly Building on Launch Complex no. 4 (ELA4). Here, they were removed from their protective travelling containers and are undergoing the meticulous process of becoming one as Ariane 6’s central core. The rocket is beginning to take on its iconic shape.

Following integration and very last assembly and tests, the completed central core will be transferred to the launch pad using automated guided vehicles. There in due course it will be joined its boosters and upper composite, the fairing with the payload inside stacked on the launch vehicle adaptor. And then it’s heading for lift-off!