European rocket launch company Arianespace says it has a four-year backlog but its clients are not yet ready with their cargoes. The first mission for its Ariane 6 rocket will not be ready until July.

Arianespace managed its first commercial launch on March 6th which went smoothly.

Arianespace’s newly-appointed Chief Executive David Cavaillolès told delegates at the Washington Satellite 2025 event: “The only reason why we have to wait until the second half of the year to launch Ariane 6 again – and believe me, we are very impatient to do so – is the availability of the payloads. We align our schedule to their schedule, which is normal. This is a challenge for us and for them as well.”

Cavaillolès said geopolitical tensions since the start of the Trump administration had provided a clear example of the need for Europe to have its own means of accessing space, something it lacked for a time given delays in the introduction of the Ariane 6 and problems with the smaller Vega C rocket.

“Today, we see things are changing,” he said, with potentially more institutional demand in Europe, including the IRIS² constellation. “We see huge room for growth in this market.”

Arianespace is planning four of its giant Ariane 6 launches in the second half of the year. One of the later launches will include four ‘strap-on’ booster stages in order to carry a batch of Amazon’s Project Kuiper satellites into orbit.

2026 will see the next stage in the rocket’s development with its Bloc 2 version with even larger ‘strap-on’ boosters and which again will be used for the Project Kuiper contract. Arianespace has orders in place for 18 Kuiper launches.

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Tags: Arianespace, Arianespace 6, Project Kuiper