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The very first Ariane 5G (L501) is prepared for its maiden flight

by

ESA/CNES/CSG/Novapix

Reference

e-leu12-00100

Date

2006-10-20

The very first Ariane 5G (L501) is prepared for its maiden flight on the Launch Zone of the Ariane Launch Complex no.3 (ELA-3) at the Guiana Space Centre, Europe's space port. This first qualification flight (V88), on June 4, 1996, did not meet is objectives as the launcher veered off course 30 seconds into flight - due to a software mishap - and was destroyed. The payloads for this mission were ESA's four Cluster plasma science satellites to study the Earth's magnetosphere. Ariane 5 completed two successful qualification flights on October 30, 1997, and October 21, 1998. The Cluster mission was relaunched in 2000.