Ariane 5 going up shortly for a minor anniversary

[Streetwind]

Webcast is starting in ~40min at arianespace.tv, with launch set for 15 minutes later at 20:10 UTC. If a hold occurs, the launch window is 1h 45min wide.

Payload is a pair of generic commsats (Eutelsat 8 West B & Intelsat 34), but the launch is noteworthy for a different reason. If everything goes according to plan, this will be the 50th consecutive successful flight of the Ariane 5 ECA configuration (and somewhere between 65 and 70 consecutive successes across all configurations).

May it fly safe and true!

[MinimumSky5]

Holding, I don't speak French, but I think that its a problem in the base (like a boat in the exclusion zone). No-one is too concerned though.

[Streetwind]

Yes, holding at 07:00 due to undisclosed Range issue. They haven't actually said what, even in french.

[Camacha]

The stream keeps freezing every now and then. Very annoying.

[Kilmeister]

I have it on in the background. Listening for the countdown to resume.

[Camacha]

I have it on in the background. Listening for the countdown to resume.

It was my intention to do that too, but the stream quitting randomly means I might miss it altogether. I guess I need to be a bit more attentive.

[MinimumSky5]

The stream keeps freezing every now and then. Very annoying.

Its not frozen now, there is just no commentary as the countdown has stopped.

[GluttonyReaper]

Countdown continued.

[MinimumSky5]

The countdown has started again, still don't know why it was delayed.

[DMSP]

3 Mins!

- - - Updated - - -

Two Minutes!

[Camacha]

Its not frozen now, there is just no commentary as the countdown has stopped.

I know, but it froze several times. That is tricky, since it is easy to mistake it for simply on hold without commentary.

[DMSP]

One minute!

- - - Updated - - -

Liftoff!

[Camacha]

That thing goes. It is not one of those slow and graceful rockets, it just takes off like an arrow.

[DMSP]

That thing goes. It is not one of those slow and graceful rockets, it just takes off like an arrow.

IKR. What a Rocket.

[MinimumSky5]

That thing goes. It is not one of those slow and graceful rockets, it just takes off like an arrow.

If you looked at the altitude graph, the rocket started going up quickly, but then lost altitude after booster separation.

[Camacha]

If you looked at the altitude graph, the rocket started going up quickly, but then lost altitude after booster separation.

I noticed that too. Apparently gaining speed quickly is more important than holding altitude.

[Streetwind]

Aaand we have successful separation. Everything went just fine, as expected of the world's most reliable heavy lifter

Congratulations Arianespace to 50 consecutive successful Ariane 5 ECA flights!

P.S.: The drop in altitude is sort of an Oberth maneuver to get a nice close burn into geo transfer, since Ariane 5 doesn't bother circularizing and stopping/restarting. Though arguably the tiny engine's TWR is a bit suboptimal, it seems to work out for them

Edited August 20, 2015 by Streetwind

[legoclone09]

Here's a video on it!

[grawl]

Congrats to the ArianEspace team !

[cryogen]

If everything goes according to plan, this will be the 50th consecutive successful flight of the Ariane 5 ECA configuration (and somewhere between 65 and 70 consecutive successes across all configurations).

67th.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ariane_5#Launch_history

Launches #15 - #81, inclusive.

If you looked at the altitude graph, the rocket started going up quickly, but then lost altitude after booster separation.

I noticed that too. Apparently gaining speed quickly is more important than holding altitude.

It's probably more efficient with an altitude drop. Tilting the trajectory upwards would spend more delta-v on gravity losses.