Diamant (rocket)

The Diamant was the first exclusively French expendable launch system and the first satellite launcher not built by the United States or the Soviet Union. Development began in 1962 as the first spacecraft project of the French space agency CNES, drawing on the military Pierres précieuses programme of test rockets. Diamant A made its maiden flight on 26 November 1965 and put the first French satellite, Astérix, into orbit. Three successive versions, A, B and BP4, each had three stages and carried roughly 150 kilograms to a 200 kilometre orbit; fully assembled they weighed 18.4, 26.9 and 20.3 tonnes. Of 12 launch attempts between 1965 and 1975, nine succeeded, the later ones from Kourou in French Guiana. France ended the programme in favour of the European Ariane launcher, which made the national rocket redundant.