Ariane 5 Rocket Before Liftoff

We frequently hear about space shuttles, but we should give credit to European Union for their space technologies. They developed a reliable Ariane 5 rocket which is a real workhorse now — successfully delivering commercial satellites to any kind of orbits. Shuttle is going to retire next year, so until new generation rocket is developed and tested Americans will have to rely on their space friends in Europe, Russia and Japan to deliver payloads to ISS.

Ariane 5 rocket before liftoff. On August 22 this rocket delivered two communication satellites to requested orbits. Space launches is a business in our days, not art :-). Click to view huge version. Image credit: ESA

Isn’t she beautiful?