The French satellite launcher is known as Ariane, which is a six-letter word. Ariane is a series of European expendable launch systems used to deliver payloads into geostationary transfer orbit or low Earth orbit. It was developed and operated by the European Space Agency and is currently the world's most reliable heavy-lift launch vehicle. The first Ariane launch took place in 1979 and since then it has been used to launch over 200 satellites into space.