Overview | Solid booster manufacturing | Integration building | Final assembly building | Launch zone

The Spaceport

Ariane 5 launch site facts

• The ELA-3 launch complex was designed to handle up to 10 Ariane 5 missions per year
• Ariane 5’s streamlined launch campaign typically lasts 20 working days
• The ELA-3 site covers more than 21 square kilometers and including a preparation area for assembly and integration, and the launch zone
• The site’s major launch infrastructure elements are linked by a dual-rail system

Ariane 5 launch site > Final Assembly Building

The last major step in the launch campaign is Ariane 5's transfer by rail to the 90-meter-tall Final Assembly Building.

It is inside this facility that the launcher receives its payload, along with the Sylda or Speltra structures (if any), and the payload fairing. These payload elements are processed within an encapsulation hall inside the Final Assembly Building.

The payload is then hoisted by a traveling crane and transferred for installation atop the launcher.

The launch table's umbilical mast is fitted with a 20-meter extension, which includes connections for the payload fairing's air-conditioning system.

The EPS upper stage and the launcher's integrated attitude control system are fuelled in the final assembly building. When integration activity in the Final Assembly Building is finished, the mobile launch table with its completed launcher is rolled out to the Launch Zone (ZL). This step occurs about 12 hours before launch.