ESA Science & Technology - Ariane 501 - Report by Board of Inquiry

Publication date: 20 July 1996

On 4 June 1996, the maiden flight of the Ariane 5 launcher ended in failure. Only about 40 seconds after initiation of the flight sequence, at an altitude of about 3700m, the laucher veered off its flight path, broke up and exploded. Engineers from the Ariane 5 project teams of CNES and Industry immediately started to investigate the failure.

This is a report detailing their findings and suggested courses of action.