\<COLOUR 1> PROPELLANTS: \<COLOUR 0> First and second stages, UDMH/nitrogen tetroxide; third stage, liquid hydrogen/liquid oxygen
\<COLOUR 1> PAYLOAD: \<COLOUR 0> Satellites into low Earth and geostationary orbit
\<COLOUR 1> LAUNCH SITE: \<COLOUR 0> Kourou Space Centre, French Guiana South America
\<COLOUR 1> COUNTRY: \<COLOUR 0> Europe
\<COLOUR 1> COMMENTS: \<COLOUR 0> First member of the highly successful Ariane family of launch vehicles developed by ESA (European Space Agency); first flight takes place on December 24, 1979; second, in May 1980, fails; third, on June 19, 1981, places Meteosat 2 and Apple into geostationary orbit.