Europe bid farewell to its Ariane 5 rocket as it completed its 117th and final flight from French Guiana's spaceport in Kourou on 5th July 2023, Wednesday. The launch had been postponed twice due to technical issues and bad weather.
The Ariane 5 rocket, despite a difficult start with two early failures, went on to achieve a successful track record. However, Europe now finds itself without an independent means to launch heavy missions into space due to delays with the next-generation Ariane 6 and Russia's withdrawal from space cooperation.
The European Space Agency (ESA) has turned to SpaceX's Falcon 9 for recent launches, acknowledging the challenging times and the need to accelerate Ariane 6's readiness.
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