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Europe launches maiden flight of Ariane 6 rocket
Running years behind schedule, Europe’s new Ariane 6 rocket blasted off on its maiden flight Tuesday, thundering away from the European Space Agency’s jungle launch site in French Guiana in a bid to restore independent European access to space.
Facing increasingly stiff international competition, Europe’s space agencies see the Ariane 6 as critical to re-establishing and maintaining their foothold in low-Earth orbit and beyond, launching European military satellites, science missions, navigation and communications satellites and other commercial payloads.
ESA webcast
“Ariane 6 will power Europe into space,” ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher said in a post on X. “This is just the first step, we have lots of work to do yet, but we are laser-focused on changing the future of the European space transportation ecosystem.”
Despite cloudy weather and area showers, the 183-foot-tall rocket’s hydrogen-fueled Vulcain 2.1 main engine roared to life at 3 p.m. EDT, followed a few seconds later by ignition of two solid-fuel strap-on boosters, each one generating 787,000 pounds of thrust.
The Ariane 6 majestically climbed skyward atop a combined 1.9 million pounds of thrust, shattering the afternoon calm at the Guiana Space Center and putting on a spectacular, long-awaited show for government and industry dignitaries, launch site personnel and area residents.
Disappearing behind low clouds, the two strap-on boosters burned out and fell away two minutes after liftoff. The Vulcain 2.1 main engine, producing 308,000 pounds of push, continued firing for another five minutes before it, too, shut down and the stage fell away, plunging back into the atmosphere where it was expected to break up.
ESA webcast
The rocket’s second stage then continued the climb to space. After two firings of its restartable, hydrogen-fueled Vinci engine, the upper stage reached its planned 360-mile-high initial orbit one hour after takeoff.
For its maiden flight, the Ariane 6 carried multiple small payloads provided by ESA, NASA, industry, research institutes and students. Among nine deployable satellites were two small experimental re-entry capsules designed to test new heat shield technologies, and two NASA “cubesats” built to study radio waves emitted by powerful solar flares.
Three upper stage engine firings were planned over the course of the two-hour 40-minute mission.
Assuming telemetry confirms a successful maiden flight, a second launch is planned before the end of the year. Six flights are booked for 2025, eight flights in 2026 and 10 in 2027. After working off the current backlog, the European space managers expect to maintain a “steady state” of nine launches per year.
“What a giant leap forward for @ESA with the first launch of its powerful, next-generation rocket-and with a @NASASun scientific instrument onboard,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said in a post on X. “Together with our international partners, we are leading a new era of space exploration.”
Liftoff, #Ariane6!
What a giant leap forward for @ESA with the first launch of its powerful, next-generation rocket—and with a @NASASun scientific instrument onboard.
Together with our international partners, we are leading a new era of space exploration. https://t.co/5IIvCyExtE
— Bill Nelson (@SenBillNelson) July 9, 2024
The Ariane 6’s launching marked a major milestone for the 13-nation European Space Agency, prime contractor ArianeGroup, the French space agency CNES, which built the launch pad, and Arianespace, the consortium that sells and manages Ariane flights.
The rocket’s predecessor, the venerable Ariane 5, was retired last year after 117 flights, including the 2021 launch of the James Webb Space Telescope. The Ariane 6 is roughly comparable to the Ariane 5, but uses upgraded components and is expected to cost 40% less to build and operate.
But unlike SpaceX, which dominates the current launch market with reusable first stages and payload fairings, the Ariane 6 is fully expendable and no components are recovered. Toni Tolker-Nielsen, ESA director of space transportation, recently told Space News that “our launch needs are so low that (reusability) wouldn’t make sense economically.”
“We don’t really need it at this point,” he said. “But when we’ll launch frequently in the future, we’ll need reusability for economic reasons. The second reason to have reusability for a European launcher is sustainability. We must have a circular economy in 10 or 20 years, we need to be sustainable.”
ESA webcast
The Ariane 6 originally was expected to fly in 2020, but a series of economic and technical hurdles combined to delay the maiden flight by four years.
In the meantime, a joint program with the Russian space agency Roscosmos — launching medium-lift Soyuz rockets from French Guiana — fell apart after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Adding insult to injury, Europe’s small Vega-C rocket was grounded after its second launch ended in failure.
And so, since the Ariane 5’s final flight last July, Europe has not had its own rockets to launch European payloads. Indeed, at least four satellites originally slated to fly aboard European launchers were instead carried to orbit aboard SpaceX Falcon 9 rockets.
“You don’t want to depend on anybody, and that’s why all spacefaring nations want their own access to space,” Lucia Linares, director of space transportation strategy and institutional launches for ESA, said in remarks quoted by Nature magazine.
Two variants of the Ariane 6 are planned: one with two strap-on boosters, the Ariane 62, and a more powerful version, the Ariane 64, with four strap-on boosters. A variety of payload fairings are available to accommodate different payload sizes.
Tolker-Nielsen said this “modular” system is ideal from Europe’s perspective.
“It’s a perfect system because Ariane 62 is replacing the Russian Soyuz, and Ariane 64 is replacing Ariane 5,” he said. “So it covers all our needs. Ariane 6 could be the European workhorse for the next 15 to 30 years.”
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Rep. Mike Turner says all “candidates need to deescalate” after Trump assassination attempts
Rep. Mike Turner, an Ohio Republican who chairs the House Intelligence Committee, responded Sunday to Eric Trump’s implication that his father’s Democratic opponents were responsible for the attempts on former President Trump’s life, saying the innuendo was “of course” inaccurate but political candidates on both sides of the aisle “need to deescalate” their rhetoric.
“No, of course not,” Turner said in his latest appearance on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan,” after being asked whether he believes there was truth to claims made by the former president, his son Eric, and his vice presidential running mate, Sen. JD Vance, at a rally where each either implied or suggested Democrats tried to kill him.
Trump returned Saturday to Butler, Pennsylvania, to speak to supporters gathered at the Butler Farm Show fairgrounds, the site of the July 13 assassination attempt against him. A gunman facing Trump on the podium at that rally opened fire into the crowd, grazing Trump’s ear, killing one attendee and injuring two others, according to authorities. The gunman was killed by a Secret Service sniper, officials said.
Another apparent assassination attempt happened in September when a suspect pointed a gun in Trump’s direction on the Florida course where he was playing golf. The FBI has opened probes into both incidents.
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Trump, his son and Vance all acknowledged the assassination attempt in Butler at Saturday’s campaign event.
“Over the past eight years, those who want to stop us from achieving this future have slandered me impeached me indicted me tried to throw me off the ballot and, who knows, maybe even tried to kill me,” said the former president, while Eric Trump claimed his father’s political opponents “tried to kill him, and it’s because the Democratic party, they can’t do anything right.”
Vance, in his remarks, addressed Trump’s Democratic challenger in the presidential race, Vice President Kamala Harris, and suggested that the Republican nominee “took a bullet for democracy.”
Brennan asked Turner: “You don’t mean to imply here anything that would suggest Eric Trump’s allegations that Democrats are trying to kill him?”
“No, of course not,” Turner responded. “But I do think that Vice President Harris needs to actively state and acknowledge that her administration is saying a foreign power, which would be an act of war, is actively trying to kill her opponent.”
The attempts on Trump’s life came after a citizen of Pakistan with ties to Iran was arrested and charged with allegedly planning a murder-for-hire scheme targeting Trump, among others. Although the timing of the charges coincided with the first attempt, there was no indication that the two incidents were related.
Turner criticized Harris for what he viewed as a failure to openly condemn the alleged plot.
“I think there’s certainly a role for her to play and for the president to play in this, in both identifying that there are threats against Donald Trump that need to be acknowledged and responded to, to deter,” he said. “I think all the candidates need to de-escalate, certainly in their language.”
But the congressman did acknowledge that a Biden-Harris Justice Department official, Matthew Olsen, the head of the national security division, said the U.S. government has been “intensely tracking Iranian lethal plotting efforts targeting former and current U.S. government officials — and that includes the former president.”
“I would say that we are very concerned — gravely concerned — about Iranian plotting,” Olsen told CBS News in a recent interview.
Hurricane Milton rapidly intensified into a Category 1 storm on Sunday, and it has set its path on Florida’s Gulf Coast.
Forecasters predict Milton will make landfall around the Tampa Bay area on Wednesday, bringing with it upwards of 120 mph winds and drenching an area still reeling from Hurricane Helene.
As of 2 p.m. ET on Sunday, Milton was centered about 290 miles west-northwest of Progreso, Mexico, and about 815 miles west-southwest of Tampa. It had maximum sustained winds of nearly 80 mph and was inching north-northeast at 6 mph.
Path of Hurricane Milton
A map from the National Hurricane Center shows Milton continuing to strengthen into a major hurricane as it approaches Florida’s western coast.
“Milton is forecast to rapidly intensify during the next couple of days and become a major hurricane on Monday,” forecasters said.
NOAA/National Hurricane Center
The storm is expected to remain north of Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula, with heavy rainfall expected as Milton makes its way northeast toward Florida. Tropical storm watches are currently in effect from Celestun to Cancún, Mexico.
NOAA/National Hurricane Center
The hurricane center said hurricane and storm surge watches could be issued for parts of Florida later Sunday.
Florida officials prepare for more impact
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Sunday that while it remains to be seen just where Milton will strike, it’s clear that Florida is going to be hit hard. “I don’t think there’s any scenario where we don’t have major impacts at this point,” he said.
“You have time to prepare — all day today, all day Monday, probably all day Tuesday to be sure your hurricane preparedness plan is in place,” the governor said. “If you’re on that west coast of Florida, barrier islands, just assume you’ll be asked to leave.”
NOAA via AP
DeSantis expanded his state of emergency declaration Sunday to 51 counties and said Floridians should prepare for more power outages and disruptions, making sure they have a week’s worth of food and water and are ready to hit the road.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency, meanwhile, coordinated with the governor and briefed President Biden Sunday on how it has staged lifesaving resources.
“I highly encourage you to evacuate” if you’re in an evacuation zone, said Kevin Guthrie, executive director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management. “We are preparing … for the largest evacuation that we have seen, most likely since 2017, Hurricane Irma. “
As many as 4,000 National Guard troops are helping state crews to remove debris, DeSantis said.
“All available state assets … are being marshaled to help remove debris,” DeSantis said. “We’re going 24-7 … it’s all hands on deck.”
An American climber was rescued after she and another alpinist from the U.K. were stranded for two days at more than 20,000 feet in the Himalayan mountains.
Michelle Dvorak, 31, and Fay Manners, 37, went missing on Thursday after their equipment and food tumbled down a ravine while trekking up India’s Chaukhamba mountain, CBS News partner BBC reported.
The pair sent an emergency message but search and rescue teams were unable to find them.
INDIAN AIR FORCE/Handout via REUTERS
Manners told the BBC they were “terrified” as they tried to make part of the descent down the treacherous mountains without supplies.
“I watched the bag tumble down the mountain and I immediately knew the consequence of what was to come,” she said. “We had none of our safety equipment left. No tent. No stove to melt snow for water. No warm clothes for the evening.”
The terrifying ordeal intensified when it started to snow. They took cover on a ledge while waiting for rescuers.
“I felt hypothermic, constantly shaking and with the lack of food my body was running out of energy to keep warm,” Manners said.
The rescue was made difficult because of the conditions, including bad weather, fog and high altitude.
“The helicopter flew passed again, couldn’t see us. We were destroyed,” Manners told the BBC.
INDIAN AIR FORCE/Handout via REUTERS
On the second day, the pair began to cautiously abseil down the mountain. They spotted a team of French climbers coming toward them. Manners said they shared their equipment and food and contacted the helicopter company with an exact location.
“I cried with relief knowing we might survive,” she said.
The Indian Air Force said in a post on the X social media platform that their helicopter airlifted the climbers from 17,400 feet after “battling two days of bad weather.”
Chaukhamba is a mountain massif in the Garhwal Himalaya in northern India.
Rep. Mike Turner says all “candidates need to deescalate” after Trump assassination attempts
Maps show track of Hurricane Milton as forecasters predict landfall in Florida this week
American and U.K. climbers rescued after 2 days stranded on Himalayan mountains in India
Rep. Mike Turner says all “candidates need to deescalate” after Trump assassination attempts
Maps show track of Hurricane Milton as forecasters predict landfall in Florida this week