1K views · 66 reactions | The Ariane 5 rocket is launching for the last time in June 2023. Take a look back. Read more  https://trib.al/sgCQc4I Credit: ESA | Space.com | Facebook

June 4th - on this day in 1996, ESA - European Space Agency conducted the first launch of its Ariane 5 heavy-lift launch vehicle. The payload consisted of four 1,200 kg Cluster satellites, which were intended to conduct research into the Earth's magnetosphere. 37 seconds after liftoff from CSG Centre spatial guyanais, the rocket veered off course and began to disintegrate, prior to being destroyed by the Range Safety Officer. The reasons for the failure were multiple embarrassing software errors

51 reactions | Europe's Ariane 5 rocket blasted off from French Guiana for the final time, carrying two military communications satellites and leaving its nations with a vacuum in autonomous access to space for the first time in more than four decades https://reut.rs/3NN6jVM | Reuters | Facebook

26 reactions | European space rocket Ariane 5 has launched off the French Guiana for the final time after 27 years of service. The 11-tonne spacecraft completed a total of 117 missions after it sent France's Syracuse 4B and Germany's H2Sat satellites to orbit. | Sky News Australia | Facebook