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 > Launcher Integration Building

The 58-meter-tall Launcher Integration Building is used for the mating of the launcher's stages.

The launch campaign begins in this facility with the positioning of Ariane 5's core cryogenic stage over one of the two mobile launch tables. The two solid booster stages are then mated on the sides of the cryogenic core stage.

The core stage is topped off with one of the upper stages (EPS, ESC-A or ESC-B, depending upon the mission) as well as the Vehicle Equipment Bay.

The Ariane 5 vehicle is linked to the launch table via an umbilical mast, which has an assembled height of 30 meters. After operations are completed in the Launcher Integration Building, the launch table with its assembled launcher is transferred to the Final Assembly Building via a dual track rail line.