Have there been other rocket launches from continental Europe?

cccbbbaaa 4 hours ago | parent | next [-]

From a sovereignty perspective, does a launch from continental Europe actually matter when Arianespace/CNES/ESA has been launching from France for decades?

▲

Cyph0n an hour ago | parent | next [-]

But French Guiana is a geographically distant ex-colony, so there will always be a higher probability of future inaccessibility. Same applies to New Caledonia, Martinique, etc.

▲

orphereus 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Doesn't it matter if this part of France is an ocean away?

	▲	cccbbbaaa 3 hours ago \| parent [-]
		I do not think so, but anyway, it is definitely not a proof that we are further decoupling ourselves from the US, which is the claim made in the root comment. France has launched rockets from France for decades. Being an ocean away does not make Kourou reliant on the US.

▲

vik0 4 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

There is no sovereignty perspective because Europe isn't even sovereign to begin with. For starters it doesn't even have a common army

	▲	gpm 2 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		The sovereignty perspective here is the perspective of the sovereignty of the states that make up Europe not the sovereignty of the entity of the EU/Europe. Though not every sovereign state has an army, see Iceland, Costa Rica, theoretically Japan, etc.
	▲	3 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		[deleted]

▲

AshleyGrant 4 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Orbital? Maybe not. Sub-orbital and ballistic? Absolutely.

▲

anonymars 4 hours ago | parent [-]

Oh yes, I think everyone remembers Germany's ballistic rockets

"Don't say that he's hypocritical,

Say rather that he's apolitical.

'Once the rockets are up, who cares where they come down?

That's not my department,' says Wernher von Braun."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjDEsGZLbio

▲

globalnode 3 hours ago | parent [-]

hehe, yes but if it wasnt for german rocket scientists the americans and russians would not have had space agencies (at least not that early)

▲

m4rtink 2 hours ago | parent [-]

Well, there was Goddard, Korolev & quite a few others. But it could indeed have taken longer if the military implications were not clearly demonstrated by Von Braun.

Still, an interesting possibility of a fully civilian space program from the start & how it would look like & how it would be different.

Kinda like in Wings of Honneamise.

	▲	dotancohen an hour ago \| parent [-]
		Not only the military aspect. His staff literally were absorbed into the Russian sand US space programs. Von Braun himself famously designed the Saturn V.