Ariane family

Ariane 40

The Ariane 4 was an expendable space launch system, developed by the Centre national d'études spatiales (CNES), the French space agency, for the European Space Agency (ESA). It was manufactured by ArianeGroup and marketed by Arianespace. Since its first flight on 15 June 1988 until the final flight on 15 February 2003, it attained 113 successful launches out of 116 total launches.

Flights flown7

Success rate100%7/7

Payload to LEO4,600kg

Maiden flight1990-01-22

Peak year19952 flights

Ariane 40 is built by Aérospatiale of France. Company background, funding, contracts and news for this operator are tracked on Space Index. It first flew on 22 January 1990 and last flew on 3 December 1999.

Flight record

7 records

100% success rate7 of 7 flown

1990peak 1995 · 2 flights1999

First flight1990-01-22

Latest flight1999-12-03

Failures0

Consecutive successes7

Fastest turnaround77d 14h

Payload

Per mission profile

Low Earth orbit	4,600kg
Geostationary transfer orbit	2,290kg

Vehicle

40 spec

Stages	2
Length	55.6m
Diameter	3.8m
Launch mass	245t
Liftoff thrust	2,720kN
Maiden flight	1990-01-22
Reusable	No

Pads used

1 pad

Ariane Launch Area 27

Orbits delivered

2 orbits

Low Earth Orbit5Polar Orbit2

Launch history

7 launches

Date	Mission	Pad	Orbit	Outcome
1999-12-03	Ariane 40 \| Helios 1B	Ariane Launch Area 2	Polar Orbit	Success
1998-03-24	Ariane 40 \| SPOT-4	Ariane Launch Area 2	Low Earth Orbit	Success
1995-07-07	Ariane 40 \| Helios 1A	Ariane Launch Area 2	Low Earth Orbit	Success
1995-04-21	Ariane 40 \| ERS-2	Ariane Launch Area 2	Low Earth Orbit	Success
1993-09-26	Ariane 40 \| SPOT 3	Ariane Launch Area 2	Low Earth Orbit	Success
1991-07-17	Ariane 40 \| ERS-1	Ariane Launch Area 2	Polar Orbit	Success
1990-01-22	Ariane 40 \| SPOT 2	Ariane Launch Area 2	Low Earth Orbit	Success

Specifications from Launch Library 2 by The Space Devs, launch records from Space Index. Derived figures are computed here; see sources and method.