Ariane 5 - Der zweite Versuch (1996)

Video from the channel Deutsche Fernsehgeschichte about Ariane 5, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 28:20. Language: German. Video type: Archive footage.

German television report on the months following the explosion of the first Ariane 5 and on the preparation of the second launch. It follows Horst Holsten, upper-stage project manager at Daimler-Benz Aerospace (DASA) in Bremen, and tours the European factories involved in the launcher: upper-stage integration in Bremen, manufacture of the Vulcain engine's combustion chamber in Munich, welding of the main stage, and a test in France. That test reproduced the accident's cabling fault at full length, with both onboard computers connected.

It was filmed in 1996, after the 4 June failure in Kourou, with scenes in French Guiana, Bremen, Munich and France. It includes the search for debris in the mangroves, scattered over about 12 km², and the recovery of the flight control system and the main engine, surprisingly intact after falling from about 4 km.

According to the report, a commission of independent experts investigated the accident, and ESA published its conclusions about eight weeks later. The guidance system inherited from Ariane 4 could not process the data from a faster rocket with a more curved trajectory, and the identical redundant system reached the same erroneous result. The report also pointed to management failures. The piece presents the launcher as an entirely new design, able to carry about seven tonnes of satellites, with a 30 m main stage and two solid boosters that deliver 90% of the initial thrust for a short time. 150 companies from twelve countries take part in building it.

The failure delayed flight qualification by about a year, forced the ordering of ten more Ariane 4s, and cost around 800 million marks through the loss of the four Cluster satellites. Since the upper stage never got to operate on the first flight, the second launch, postponed from July to September, would in practice be its debut. Officials defended the programme on the grounds of the satellite market, where Ariane 4 held over 50%, and of European access to the International Space Station with the ATV cargo vehicle.