Ariane 5 version
Ariane 5 Ariane 5G
The original vehicle, designated «G» for generic: H158 cryogenic main stage with a Vulcain 1 engine, two P238 solid boosters and the storable-propellant EPS upper stage. It flew sixteen times between 1996 and 2003 after a catastrophic debut.
- June 4, 1996
- First launch
- 16,000 kg
- LEO capacity
- No
- Reusable
History
A debut that nearly ended the programme
The first Ariane 5G lifted off from Kourou on 4 June 1996 and destroyed itself less than a minute later: guidance software inherited from Ariane 4 overflowed while converting a reference value and the vehicle veered off course until it broke up. The failure became a textbook case in aerospace software engineering — the fault lay not in the machine but in reusing code written for a different trajectory.
Configuration
The G version paired the H158 cryogenic main stage and its Vulcain 1 engine with two P238 solid boosters and the EPS storable-propellant upper stage. Launch mass was about 737 tonnes and it could place a single 6,900 kg satellite into geostationary transfer orbit, or two totalling 6,100 kg using the SYLDA dual-launch structure.
Service
After the maiden failure and a second flight with an anomaly, the G version built a solid record: it carried the XMM-Newton and Envisat observatories — the latter, at 8,111 kg, the heaviest single payload for years — and closed its career on 27 September 2003 with flight 162, which sent Europe's first lunar probe, SMART-1, on its way. It flew sixteen times in all, with one failure and two partial failures.