Another find in my ESA office as I clear it out ahead of my imminent departure: some fragments recovered from the explosion of the first Ariane 5 flight V88 / 501 on 4 June 1996, carrying the four Cluster magnetospheric satellites 🛰️🛰️🛰️🛰️
The satellites were rebuilt & successfully launched on two Soyuz rockets in 2000: they are still in operation today, although their end is near now 🥺
@markmccaughrean
I remember that it was risky by design to put one half of unknown A5 onto another half A4 . Too much it was never safe and had to be redesigned 😐
@enigma I’m no launcher expert, but that’s not a story I’m aware of. An engine from Ariane 4 was used for the upper stage of the Ariane 5 ECA variant, but that came later: the first versions were Ariane 5G with a different non-cryogenic upper stage.
@enigma Hmm, not sure. The plan was always to start with a non-cryo upper stage G version AFAIK, bringing the more powerful cryogenic ECA version in later. I’m not aware (but again am no launcher historian) that that change was made in response to the 501 launch failure.
@MichelvanBaal Indeed. It took quite a few years before Ariane 5 did enough to prove its reliability, not helped by the explosion of the first ECA version in 2002.
All the more remarkable in retrospect that NASA & ESA maintained faith in the decision to launch JWST on an Ariane 5, although of course, in the event, it was a spectacularly good choice, as the trajectory was so good it more than doubled the life of the mission.
@markmccaughrean jup. I was at the launch event (although not yet ESTEC staff at that time), and worked on the first A5 launch in Kourou as a student in ‘94. Memories 😉
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