At the Paris Air Show, Astrium CEO François Auque and Jean-Yves Le Gall, Chairman and CEO of Arianespace, signed a preliminary order for the production of 35 Ariane 5 launchers, in addition to the batch of 30 Ariane 5 launchers ordered in 2004.
The signing ceremony was attended by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, with Jean-Jacques Dordain, Director General of the European Space Agency and Yannick d’Escatha, President of the French space agency CNES.
Astrium’s Space Transportation business unit is single prime contractor for the Ariane 5 system, responsible for delivery to Arianespace of a fully integrated and tested launch vehicle out of the Launcher Integration Building (BIL) in French Guiana and co-ordinates the entirety of the associated technical and contractual relationships with subcontractors throughout Europe.
