Dramatic Video: Ariane 5 Rocket Abort

by Nancy Atkinson on March 31, 2011

This video starts with an exciting countdown and quickly goes to a dramatic — if not confusing — set of circumstances yesterday where an Ariane 5 rocket’s main engine ignited, but the boosters did not. Officials say the aborted launch on March 30, 2011 from the Guiana Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana was due to a main engine glitch seven seconds after ignition. Launch was set for 5:45 p.m. EDT (2145 GMT) yesterday, and a new launch date will be set after determining the exact nature of the malfunction. The payload includes two communications satellites which Arianespace officials say are “in a safe mode on the launch pad.”

The rocket will be sent back into a hangar where engineers can investigate the problem.

Tagged as: Ariane 5 rocket, launches

  • Olaf

    I like the typical French expression “Ohlala” spoken by the commentator when nothing happens.

    But at least it did not blow up.

    • Hon. Salacious B. Crumb

      Pas voir de problème bien sûr. ARIANE a le succès très bon au cours des années.

      • Olaf

        I agree, Ariane has a very good track record.
        Also unlike the Falcon 9, this design is far more sexy.

        • wjwbudro

          What is “sexy” about a tube with two “unrecoverable” srb’s attached?

  • Moonshine

    I was wondering ,can this rocket be used for Man Space Flight?
    I wonder if it would be cheaper too launch American astronauts on Ariane rockets,than paying the ever increasing cost of Our comrads the Russians???

  • Wolter

    Both Ariane 5 as well as the ATV are designed to be human rated. The ATV needs to be developed further though to enable re-entry. However i doubt it will be cheaper then the russian rocket given the fact that the current ATV allready is priced at 1 billion dollars a piece.

Previous post:

Next post: