Ariane 4

Ariane 4 was a European expendable launch vehicle developed by the French space agency CNES for the European Space Agency and flown between 1988 and 2003. It was an evolution of Ariane 3 with a stretched first stage holding 210 tonnes of propellant, and it could be fitted with a range of solid or liquid strap-on boosters, giving six variants. Aérospatiale was main contractor for its first and second stages, working with Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm, Société Européenne de Propulsion and other firms from eleven supporting countries. The SPELDA carrier let it launch two satellites at once. Its first successful launch was on 15 June 1988. It flew 116 times with 113 successes and took about half of the commercial satellite launch market before Arianespace retired it in February 2003 in favour of Ariane 5.