Preparing first Ariane 6 with four boosters and liftoff
Timelapse showing the steps to build the most powerful version of Europe’s Ariane 6 rocket on the launch pad at Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana.
The video shows the central core of the rocket arriving at the launch pad on 21 January 2026, where it was raised upright and placed on the launch table on the same day.
Then launch technicians added the first booster, second booster, third booster and the final, fourth booster over ending on the 22 January. Next the upper part including the 32 Amazon Leo satellites was added to the top of the rocket on 9 February.
On launch day the mobile hangar that houses Ariane 6 was rolled away to reveal the rocket to the stars, followed by liftoff.
This first launch of the four-booster version of Ariane 6, operated by Arianespace, took 32 satellites for Amazon’s Leo constellation to low-Earth orbit. Liftoff occurred at 13:45 local time (16:45 GMT/17:45 CET) on 12 February, with separation of the last satellites occurring after 114 minutes.