Date: 01 May 1992
Copyright: ESA

Lift off of Ariane flight 14 carrying Giot- to at 11hrs 23 mins UTC on 2 July 1985. The launch was accomplished on the first day of the official launch window from the European launch facility at Kourou, French Guyana. Ariane-1 was the first of the European launches series and generates 245 000 kg of thrust from its four Viking V engines at lift-off. A mission originally planned to last only eight months finally became a seven year 'Odyssey' with an unprecedented encounter with two comets.