On Friday, the Ariane 5 rocket took off from the Guiana Space Center to launch the Juice probe to Jupiter. JODY AMIET/AFP
REPORTAGE – After a perfectly successful launch, the teams were slow to recover the signal from the ship. A moment of anguish that will soon be forgotten: the probe is in perfect health.
Special Envoy to Kourou
Some « Go Juice ! » burst into the audience gathered 5 km from the Ariane 5 launch pad, on the Toucan observation site, at the Guiana Space Center (CSG) in Kourou. It is 9:14 a.m. (2:14 p.m. Paris time) and the European interplanetary probe bound for Jupiter is about to take off. After an abortive attempt the day before, due to a risk of lightning detected ten minutes before the firing, the weather is more lenient this Friday morning. The sky is veiled, cloudy in places; but the sun, very powerful at the equator, still manages to break through, making the tropical humidity a little more stifling. Above all, the altitude winds are less strong and no storm cell threatens. The rocket will be able to take off.
The Vulcain main engine ignites in a cloud of steam and dust before the two solid boosters flanking the rocket are ignited 7 seconds later. The 780 tons of Ariane 5 then tear themselves away…
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