Ariane 64, Europe’s Largest Rocket, Debuts With Amazon Satellite Launch

Expendable heavy-lift launcher sends 32 satellites for ecommerce titan’s growing low-Earth orbit constellation.

Jack Daleo

Monday, February 16, 2026 at 01:45 PM ET

Verified

Edited By:

Travis Tingle

Arianespace’s three-stage, expendable, heavy-lift Ariane 64 launcher lifts off on its debut mission from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, carrying 32 Amazon Leo satellites. [Credit: Arianespace]

Key Takeaways:

Europe's new heavy-lift rocket, Ariane 64, successfully completed its maiden flight, deploying 32 Amazon Leo satellites to low-Earth orbit.
This launch marks a significant milestone for the European space sector, demonstrating its capability for large-scale commercial constellation missions and enhancing its independence in space.
The Ariane 64, a more powerful variant of the Ariane 6 family, aims to compete with leading providers like SpaceX, with plans for future capacity enhancements and the development of reusable launch systems.

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Europe’s largest and most powerful rocket ever made its maiden flight earlier this month, delivering 32 satellites to low-Earth orbit (LEO) for customer Amazon Leo—the e-commerce and logistics titan’s budding satellite constellation, billed as a rival to SpaceX’s rapidly expanding Starlink network.

Launched Thursday, the mission was the debut of Arianespace’s Ariane 64, which stands about 20 storeys tall and doubles the payload of the company’s Ariane 62 variant. Both are versions of the launch provider’s Ariane 6, which debuted in 2024 and replaced the Ariane 5 family as the European Space Agency’s (ESA) workhorse launch vehicle. The Ariane 62 configuration, denoting two solid rocket boosters, was used for the previous five Ariane 6 launches.