The Ariane project

The Ariane project was decided on in 1973, in the framework of European spa ce cooperation at the occasion of the birth of the European Space Agency. I n 1979, the first Ariane was a technical success. The evolution of the laun cher and the creation of the company 'Arianespace', in charge of the produc tion, the commercialisation of the launching and the operations of launchin g have transformed this technical success into an economic success, since t his company has kept 60% of the commercial market of launch services. (C) 1 999 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.