Arianespace is a French commercial launch services company founded in 1980, operating a fleet of Ariane, Vega and Soyuz rockets for satellite deployments.
As the launch services arm of the European space program, Arianespace markets and launches Ariane 6 heavy-lift vehicles and Vega C small rockets from the Guiana Space Centre. It was formed in 1980 as the world’s first commercial launch provider. Arianespace handles mission integration and orbital launches for telecommunications, Earth observation, scientific and defense payloads, and is a subsidiary of ArianeGroup (Airbus and Safran).