Ariane 5 [SEP] manufacturer
of the European Space Agency (ESA) and the French spatial agency Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales. Airbus Defence and Space is the prime contractor for the vehicles, leading a consortium of other European contractors.
Ariane 5 is operated and marketed by Arianespace as part of the "Ariane" programme. The rockets are launched by Arianespace from the Guiana Space Centre in French Guiana.
Ariane 5 succeeded Ariane 4, but was not derived from it directly as Ariane 5 was developed from scratch. Ariane 5 has been refined since the
Bölkow-Blohm (produced the liquid-fuelled boosters), Société Européenne de Propulsion (SEP) (engine manufacturer), Matra (equipment bay assembly), Air Liquide (production of third stage tanks and insulation), BPD Snia (maker of solid-fuelled boosters), and British Aerospace/Contraves Space AG (manufacturers of the fairing). for their work on the Ariane 4, the Launch Team were subsequently awarded the Space Achievement Award by the Space Foundation in 2004.
In conjunction with the development of