The first launch of Ariane 6 is expected in the first half of July, when the vehicle will take shape at the launch pad in French Guiana. The European Space Agency announced on May 21 that the joint team working on Ariane 6, including ESA, prime contractor ArianeGroup, launch service provider Arianespace and French space agency CNES, expects the first launch of Ariane 6 to occur within the first two weeks. of July.

This is in the middle of the timeframe previously announced by the ESA as somewhere between mid-June and end-July. ESA said a specific, though tentative, launch date will be announced at the ILA Air Show in Berlin, June 5-9.

The update was the first launch date update since November 2023, when the ESA announced a window from mid-June to late July. Officials have previously stated that they will provide an update on the launch following the qualification review, which is expected to be completed by the end of April.

In its latest update, ESA said it completed its adequacy review on April 29. Workers also began assembling the rocket itself by attaching two solid-state rocket boosters to the main stage. The upper stage and payloads will be installed in June ahead of fuel tests and a practical countdown, called a dress rehearsal, scheduled for June 18.

While ESA has not yet provided an update on Ariane 6’s launch dates, executives from the two main suppliers have said they believe the launch is on schedule. “I think we’re heading in the right direction for July flight,” Giulio Ranzo, Avio’s CEO, said of the Ariane 6 in its May 9 earnings call. Avio produces the rugged rocket engines used in the Ariane 6 boosters.

“We are fairly confident that Ariane 6 will be launched in the known launch window of mid-June to late July,” OHB CEO Marco Fuchs said in his company’s May 8 earnings call. “I think the preparations are going very well.”

ESA director general Josef Aschbacher, 39-39. During the session, he described the first launch of Ariane 6 as the “biggest event of the year” for Europe. ^Ah Space symposium in April. The successful flight of the long-delayed Ariane 6 will help alleviate the “launcher crisis” that has forced ESA and the European Commission to purchase several Falcon 9 launches from SpaceX. This includes the May 28 launch of EarthCARE, a joint science mission between ESA and Japanese space agency JAXA, aboard a Falcon 9 from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

But at the Space Symposium, Aschbacher tried to define the expectations for this first flight. “Statistically, there is a 47% chance that the first flight will fail or go exactly as planned,” he said, citing the history of first launches of new large launch vehicles. “We’ll do everything we can to make this flight a success, but I think it’s something we need to keep in mind.”