ELA-3 (french: Ensemble de Lancement Ariane 3, lit=Ariane Launch Complex 3), is 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 entir ...

and associated facilities 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 ...

. ELA-3 is operated 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 ...

as part of the expendable launch system for Ariane 5

launch vehicles A launch vehicle or carrier rocket is a rocket designed to carry a payload (spacecraft or satellites) from the Earth's surface to outer space. Most launch vehicles operate from a launch pads, supported by a launch control center and syste ...

. , 114 launches have been carried out from it, the first of which occurred on 4 June 1996. ELA-3 is 21 square kilometres in size.

Launch history

Scheduled flights

References

{{Ariane Guiana Space Centre