AbstractThe Ariane project was decided on in 1973, in the framework of European space cooperation at the occasion of the birth of the European Space Agency. In 1979, the first Ariane was a technical success. The evolution of the launcher and the creation of the company ‘Arianespace’, in charge of the production, the commercialisation of the launching and the operations of launching have transformed this technical success into an economic success, since this company has kept 60% of the commercial market of launch services.