First Ariane 6 rocket launches as Europe rejoins a market dominated by Musk's SpaceX

The powerful European-built Ariane 6 rocket made its long-awaited liftoff on Tuesday as the region returned to a launch market dominated by Elon Musk's SpaceX.

Ariane 6, standing more than 200 feet tall and powered by its Vulcain engine and a pair of boosters, launched from Kourou in French Guiana at 3 p.m. ET and then reached orbit successfully.

The rocket is a combined effort of about $4.5 billion overseen by the European Space Agency, or ESA, and built by ArianeGroup, an Airbus and Safran joint venture. Thirteen nations contribute to the Ariane 6 program.

It is the latest in a European rocket lineage dating back to the 1970s, and succeeds the Ariane 5, which launched 117 times until it retired last year. Ariane 6 comes in two versions: Ariane 62, with two solid rocket boosters that can deliver as much as 10,000 kilograms of cargo to low Earth orbit (LEO), and Ariane 64, a modelwith four solid rockets boosters that can carry as many as 21,000 kilograms to LEO.

In the launch market, Ariane 6 falls in the "heavy" class of rockets.

Ariane 6's debut flight is a demonstration mission for the ESA, and will haul a variety of small satellites and spacecraft. After liftoff, the flight will last nearly three hours before it completes the deployment of 11 spacecraft, and also includes a key series of tests of the rocket's upper stage engine.

Ariane 6's first voyage has been postponed by years, with delays fueled by technical issues, the Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine.

Following its full-scale invasion of its neighbor, Russia suspended all European mission launches on itsSoyuz rockets. A smaller alternative European rocket, the Vega-C, has been grounded since a failed 2022 launch, and is not expected to fly again until later