Arianespace

Arianespace was founded in 1980 as the world’s first commercial satellite launch company. Its shareholders include the French space agency CNES, Astrium and all European space companies, representing 10 European countries. As of January1, 2013, the company had 315 employees, at corporate headquarters in Evry, at the Guiana Space Center (CSG) - launch site for Ariane 5, Soyuz and Vega - and at local offices in Washington D.C., Singapore and Tokyo. In 2012, seven launches of Ariane 5, two launches of Soyuz at CSG and one launch of Vega generated a turnover of 1 329 M€, increased by more than 30 per cent compared to 2011, with balanced accounts. Since its creation, Arianespace has signed contracts with 81 customers worldwide carrying out 213 Ariane launches, 30 Soyuz launches (four at CSG and 26 at Baikonur via its subsidiary, Starsem) and the two first launches of Vega. More than half of the commercial satellites in service today were launched by Arianespace.