Heller 80440 Ariane 4

Ariane 4 is a European carrier rocket. The rocket was 58.72 meters long with a diameter of 3.8 meters. Its empty total weight is approx. 240 tons. Its first start was in June 1988 and the last one - in 2003. Ariane 4 was developed and designed by the French CNES for the European Space Agency. The manufacturer of these launchers was the Arianespace company. The new carrier rocket was developed as an evolutionary development of the Ariane 3, with the aim of being able to launch a higher mass payload into orbit at a lower cost per kilogram of payload. Ultimately, however, a rocket was created that was significantly better than its predecessor. In total, there were 116 Ariane 4 starts, of which only three were unsuccessful! Several variants of the Ariane 4 missiles were developed in the course of production, such as the AR 40, AR 42 P or AR 44 P. Rockets of this type were replaced at the beginning of the 21st century by Ariane 5 missiles.