Ariane 5

Ariane 5 is a mid to heavy-lift orbital launch vehicle developed for the European Space Agency ESA.

Since the first launch in 1996 it performed 109 missions with only 5 failures. Two of these were total losses. The other 3 brought the satellites to a wrong orbit, so they had to expense some of their fuel to reach the assigned positions. Between 11th of December 2002 and 23rd of January 2018, 82 consecutive launches succeeded.

This makes Ariane 5 the most reliable start vehicles for orbital equipment and a huge success - like LEGO!

The technical data:

   Height: 46–52 m

   Mass: 777,000 kg

   Payload to LEO (low earth orbit): 16,000 kg

   Payload to GTO (geostationary transfer orbit): 10,865 kg

The current version (ECA) consists of the following modules:

- Main stage (EPC H173):

     Height:   30.5 m

     Diameter: 5.4 m

     Engine: 1 Vulcain

     Propellant: liquid oxygen/hydrogen

- Upper stage (ESC-A H14, 4):

     Height:   4.7 m

     Diameter: 5.4 m

     Engine: 1 HM-7B using liquid oxygen/hydrogen

     Propellant: liquid oxygen/hydrogen

- Solid boosters (EAP P241):

     Height:   31.6 m

     Diameter: 3.1 m

     Propellant: NH4ClO4 / Al, HTPB

- Payload fairing (several options):

     Height: from 12.7 m to 19.0 m

     Diameter: 5.4 m

     Payload volume: from 125 m3 to 233 m3

The LEGO model of this iconic spacecraft is close to a scale of 1:110. The physical dimensions are:

     Height: 470 mm

     Width: 139 mm

     Depth: 56 mm

     Part Count: 720

This model is a must-have for any LEGO spacecraft fan and it is stable enough to be played with.