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PARIS, Jul 4 The latest launch of the European Ariane-5 launch vehicle from the Kourou launch site in French Guiana has been delayed by a day due to bad weather, according to a statement released Tuesday on site of the operator company Arianespace.
The launch was supposed to take place on Wednesday night.
«Due to adverse winds at high altitude over the Guiana Space Center, Arianespace has decided not to initiate the final phase of VA261 launch operations. Depending on favorable weather conditions, the earliest possible launch date for VA261 is July 5, 2023 between 2200 and 2305… according to universal time (UTC),» the document says.
The last launch of the European launch vehicle Ariane-5 has been postponed for the second time. The launch was originally scheduled for June 16, but was delayed due to a malfunction.
This 117th launch should mark the end of the 27-year service life of the booster. It is supposed to deliver a French military communications satellite into orbit, as well as an experimental German satellite.
In December 2022, a European Vega-C launch vehicle also crashed due to an engine failure. The commissioning of the new Ariane-6 launch vehicle has been repeatedly postponed. As previously reported by the European Space Agency, at best, it can take place before the end of 2023.
After the start of Russia's special military operation in Ukraine on February 24, 2022, the EU countries imposed sanctions on Russian enterprises in the space industry. In response, Roscosmos announced the termination of cooperation in organizing launches from the Kourou spaceport.