ELA-2, short for Ensemble de Lancement Ariane 2 ( French for Ariane Launch Area 2), was a

launch pad A launch pad is an above-ground facility from which a rocket-powered missile or space vehicle is vertically launched. The term ''launch pad'' can be used to describe just the central launch platform (mobile launcher platform), or the entire ...

at the Centre Spatial Guyanais in

French Guiana French Guiana ( or ; french: link=no, Guyane ; gcr, label=French Guianese Creole, Lagwiyann ) is an overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France on the northern Atlantic ...

. It was used by

Arianespace Arianespace SA is a French company founded in 1980 as the world's first commercial launch service provider. It undertakes the operation and marketing of the Ariane programme. The company offers a number of different launch vehicles: the heavy ...

for two

Ariane 3 Ariane 3 was a European expendable carrier rocket, which was used for eleven launches between 1984 and 1989. It was a member of the Ariane family of rockets. The principal manufacturer for the Ariane 3 was Aérospatiale, while the lead agency f ...

launches (V17 in 1986, V25 in 1988), the second Ariane 2 launch in 1987 (the 20th Ariane launch), and all 116

Ariane 4 The Ariane 4 was a European expendable space launch system, developed by the '' Centre national d'études spatiales'' (CNES), the French space agency, for the European Space Agency (ESA). It was manufactured by ArianeGroup and marketed by Ari ...

launches between 1988 and 2003. Following the retirement of the Ariane 4 in favour of the

Ariane 5 Ariane 5 is a European heavy-lift space launch vehicle developed and operated by Arianespace for the European Space Agency (ESA). It is launched from the Centre Spatial Guyanais (CSG) in French Guiana. It has been used to deliver payloads int ...

, ELA-2 was deactivated. In September 2011 the pad's mobile service tower was demolished using explosives.

References

Guiana Space Centre {{rocketry-stub

See also

References