Jun 18 1981
From The Space Library
ESA successfully launched its Ariane rocket from Kourou, French Guiana, at 2:33 p. m. local time, carrying Indian-built comsat Apple and ESA's own Meteosat 2 into an orbit with 36,206-kilometer apogee and 201-kilometer perigee and "breaking a quarter-century two-power monopoly on space achievements," as the Washington Post and Washington Star agreed.
Michel Bignier, ESA's director of space and transport systems, said "space is no longer the exclusive preserve of a few powerful nations but now belongs to all of humanity." Pierre Morel, director general of the Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales (CNES), said the third Ariane launch "opens the way to European commercial exploitation of space." ESA had hoped for a third of the 180 to 200 satellite launches scheduled for the next decade; Ariane had firm contracts for 7 launches through 1985 and options for another 14.
Ariane's second launch in May 1980 had ended in failure when the rocket burst into flames moments after leaving the pad. The first test in December 1979 had been successful, but that rocket carried no satellites. The $1.6 billion Ariane program was funded by 10 nations, with France (contributing about 64%) and West Germany (about 20%) as major participants. (ESA Info 10, 11, 12; W Post, June 20/81, A-9; W Star, June 20/81, D-2; Nature, June 25/81, 604)
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