Diamant
Sign in to savethumb|Military space program ' (fr.: gemstones) that included the five prototypes Agate (rocket)|Agathe, Topaze, Emeraude, Rubis and Saphir. The Diamant''' rocket (French for 'diamond') was the first exclusively French expendable launch system and at the same time the first satellite launcher not built by either the United States or USSR. As such, it has been referred to as being a key predecessor for all subsequent European launcher projects. The head of the project, Charley Attali, received the Legion of Honour in 1965 for the Diamant.
Key facts
- Rocket.name
- Diamant
- Rocket.image
- Diamant_A.jpg
- Rocket.caption
- Diamant A
- Rocket.function
- Small launch vehicle
- Rocket.manufacturer
- SEREB
- Rocket.country origin
- France
- Rocket.stages
- 3
- Rocket.status
- Retired
- Rocket.launches
- 12 (A:4, B: 5, BP4: 3)
- Rocket.success
- 9 (A: 3, B: 3, BP4: 3)
- Rocket.fail
- 2 (B)
- Rocket.partial
- 1 (A)
- Rocket/payload.location
- LEO
- Rocket/stage.type
- stage
- Rocket/stage.diff
- Diamant B/BP4
- Rocket/stage.stageno
- Third
- Rocket/stage.name
- P-068
- Rocket/stage.engines
- 1 P-064
via Wikipedia infobox
Article
14 sectionsContents
- Development
- Background
- Emergence and success
- Successor and discontinuation
- Variants
- Diamant A
- Diamant B
- Diamant BP4
- Launch history
- See also
- References
- Citations
- Bibliography
- External links
thumb|Military space program ' (fr.: gemstones) that included the five prototypes Agate (rocket)|Agathe, Topaze, Emeraude, Rubis and Saphir. The Diamant''' rocket (French for 'diamond') was the first exclusively French expendable launch system and at the same time the first satellite launcher not built by either the United States or USSR. As such, it has been referred to as being a key predecessor for all subsequent European launcher projects. The head of the project, Charley Attali, received the Legion of Honour in 1965 for the Diamant.
During 1962, development of the Diamant commenced as the inaugural spacecraft project of France's space agency, the Centre National d'Études Spatiales (CNES). As a project, it was derived from the military program pierres précieuses () that included the five prototypes Agate, Topaze, Emeraude, Rubis and Saphir (Agate, Topaz, Emerald, Ruby and Sapphire), and drew heavily upon the knowledge and technologies that had been previously developed. On 26 November 1965, the Diamant A performed its maiden flight. Out of a total of 12 launch attempts to be performed between 1965 and 1975, 9 of these were successful. Most notably, on 26 November 1965, the Diamant was used to successfully launch the first French satellite, named Astérix.