Main Page | See live article | Alphabetical index The Ariane 2 and Ariane 3 were expendable launch systems in the Ariane family designed by the European Space Agency. They were almost identical, with the Ariane 3 equipped with strap-on boosters. They were the successors of the Ariane 1 and the predecessors of the Ariane 4. Technical details The Ariane 2 & 3 have the same design as the Ariane 1 but with increased thrust for first and second stage engines, a taller third stage, a larger internal payload fairing volume. Ariane 3 added two solid rocket motor strap-ons. Its payload capacity was 2175-2580 kg. They were three-stage rocket: The first stage was equipped with 4 solid propellant engine. The second had one N2O4/UDMH bipropellant engine. The third stage had also one N2O4/UDMH bipropellant engine. This design will be kept until the Ariane 4. Launchs history The first launch of the Ariane 2 was on May 30, 1986 and was a failure. The next ones were all successfull. There was only a few flights of the Ariane 2, 6 in total, the last on April 2, 1989. The first launch of the Ariane 3 was on August 4, 1984; mostly two years before the Ariane 2. There was 11 flights; only the fifth one was a failure. The small number of flights of the Ariane 2 & 3 is due to the arrival of the much more versatile and powerfull Ariane 4.\n This article is from Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.