Arianespace

Arianespace was founded in 1980 as the world’s first commercial satellite launch company.

Arianespace was founded in 1980 as the world’s first commercial satellite launch company. Its shareholders include Airbus Safran Launchers, the French space agency CNES, and all European space companies, representing 10 European countries. As of January 1, 2015, the company has 329 employees, at corporate headquarters in Evry, at the Guiana Space Center (CSG) - launch site for Ariane 5, Soyuz and Vega - and at local offices in Washington DC, Singapore and Tokyo. Since its creation, Arianespace has signed contracts with 90 customers worldwide has carried out 221 Ariane launches, 36 Soyuz launches (10 at CSG and 26 at Baikonur via its subsidiary, Starsem) and the three first launches of Vega. More than half of the commercial satellites in service today were launched by Arianespace.