Ariane 5 rocket lights up jungle with perfect launch

Generating an exhilarating wave of sound and light spreading miles around, an Ariane 5 rocket rose into space at sunset Wednesday with a communications satellite for the Middle East and another craft to serve commercial and U.S. government customers over North America. Grounded for a day by a labor dispute at the launch base, the Ariane 5 rocket ignited its clean-burning hydrogen-fueled Vulcain 2 main engine at 2138 GMT (5:38 p.m. EDT), waited seven seconds for a computer-run health check, then fired two cylindrical solid rocket boosters and climbed away from the Guiana Space Center. More

(Source: Space Flight Now - Sep 24)