Kourou Credit - © Mark Wade

After the agreement with newly independent Algeria for France to evacuate their launch sites in that country, a location near Biscarosse was selected for French missile testing. However since only launches westwards across the Bay of Biscay could be made from this site, it was unsuitable for France's Diamant orbital launch vehicle. After reviewing 14 potential sites, a location in the South American French colony of Guiana was selected. This would allow over-water launches to a tremendous range of possible orbital inclinations -- from -100.5 deg to 1.5 deg. Being near the equator, it would provide the maximum assist from the earth's rotation for launches into equatorial orbits. The decision was formalized in April 1964 and in July 1966 ELDO chose the site for future launches of the Europa II launch vehicle.

Four pads for sounding rockets were completed in 1968 and a Diamant pad in 1969. The Europa II launch complex was ready in 1971 but used for only one launch before that project collapsed. At the time of the last Diamant orbital launch in 1975, 184 sounding rocket and 9 orbital launches had been made from Kourou.

Operational activities nearly ceased for three years while a complete renovation of the center was undertaken to support the new European Ariane orbital launch vehicle. The Europa II launch complex was modified for use with the Ariane, and the first launch took place from the ELA-1 pad in December 1979. As the Ariane became more successful and the communications satellite launch market boomed, a decision was taken in 1981 to build a second orbital pad, ELA-2. This was completed in 1986 and used to support a high rate of Ariane 4 launches. The final addition was ELA-3 for the all-new Ariane 5 vehicle. This was begun in 1988 and took eight years to build. After the final Ariane 4 launch in 2003, ELA-1 and ELA-2 were decommissioned and ELA-4 remained the only active orbital pad.

Given its ideal location, over the years many proposals were made to build launch complexes for other orbital vehicles at Kourou. These included Russian Soyuz, Ukrainian Tsyklon, and Italian Vega proposals. As of 2008 the Soyuz launch complex, at a total original estimated expense of $ 371 million, was nearing completion. Work on the Vega pad was underway.

Kourou was known to have been used for at least 278 launches from 1968 to 2007

• ALFS - Latitude: 5.2073 deg. Longitude: -52.7320 deg. Used by: Arcas, Belier, Cajun, Skua, Stromboli, Veronique. First Launch: 1968-04-09. Last Launch: 1979-11-14. Number Launches: 74. Aire de Lancement Fusee-Sondes

• ALFS V - Latitude: 5.2073 deg. Longitude: -52.7320 deg. Ensemble Veronique, Aire de Lancement Fusee-Sondes

• CECLES - Latitude: 5.2358 deg. Longitude: -52.7747 deg. Aire de Lancement CECLES

• Diamant - Latitude: 5.2431 deg. Longitude: -52.7661 deg. Used by: Diamant. First Launch: 1970-03-10. Last Launch: 1975-09-27. Number Launches: 8. Aire de Lancement Diamant

• ELA1 - Latitude: 5.2358 deg. Longitude: -52.7747 deg. Used by: Ariane, Cajun, Europa. First Launch: 1971-03-05. Last Launch: 1989-07-12. Number Launches: 27. Ensemble de Lancement Ariane 1

• ELA2 - Latitude: 5.2322 deg. Longitude: -52.7755 deg. Used by: Ariane. First Launch: 1986-03-28. Last Launch: 2003-02-15. Number Launches: 119. Ensemble de Lancement Ariane 2

• ELA3 - Latitude: 5.2406 deg. Longitude: -52.7708 deg. Used by: Ariane 5. First Launch: 1996-06-04. Last Launch: 2007-12-21. Number Launches: 36. Ensemble de Lancement Ariane 3

• ELS - Latitude: 5.2954 deg. Longitude: -52.8354 deg. Ensemble de Lancement Soyuz

1974 March 19 - 15:00 GMT - Launch Vehicle: Loki. DIURNAL PWN-11A Aeronomy mission Agency: NASA WFC. Apogee: 73 km (45 mi).

1974 March 19 - 18:00 GMT - Launch Vehicle: Loki. DIURNAL PWN-11A Aeronomy mission Agency: NASA WFC. Apogee: 75 km (46 mi).

1974 March 19 - 21:00 GMT - Launch Vehicle: Loki. DIURNAL PWN-11A Aeronomy mission Agency: NASA WFC. Apogee: 75 km (46 mi).

1974 March 19 - 22:20 GMT - Launch Vehicle: Loki. DIURNAL PWN-11A Aeronomy mission Agency: NASA WFC. Apogee: 75 km (46 mi).

1974 March 20 - 00:00 GMT - Launch Vehicle: Loki. DIURNAL PWN-11A Aeronomy mission Agency: NASA WFC. Apogee: 76 km (47 mi).

1974 March 20 - 03:00 GMT - Launch Vehicle: Loki. DIURNAL PWN-11A Aeronomy mission Agency: NASA WFC. Apogee: 74 km (45 mi).

1974 March 20 - 06:00 GMT - Launch Vehicle: Loki. DIURNAL PWN-11A Aeronomy mission Agency: NASA WFC. Apogee: 75 km (46 mi).

1974 March 20 - 09:00 GMT - Launch Vehicle: Loki. DIURNAL PWN-11A Aeronomy mission Agency: NASA WFC. Apogee: 67 km (41 mi).

1974 March 20 - 12:00 GMT - Launch Vehicle: Loki. DIURNAL PWN-11A Aeronomy mission Agency: NASA WFC. Apogee: 75 km (46 mi).

1974 March 20 - 15:00 GMT - Launch Vehicle: Loki. DIURNAL PWN-11A Aeronomy mission Agency: NASA WFC. Apogee: 77 km (47 mi).

1995 November 20 - 14:00 GMT - Launch Vehicle: Loki. Super Loki DLR KO-SL-218 Aeronomy mission Agency: DLR. Apogee: 75 km (46 mi).

1995 November 23 - 14:00 GMT - Launch Vehicle: Loki. Super Loki DLR KO-SL-219 Aeronomy mission Agency: DLR. Apogee: 75 km (46 mi).

1997 October 30 - 15:24 GMT - Launch Vehicle: Loki. Super Loki DLR KO-SL-227 Aeronomy mission Agency: DLR. Apogee: 75 km (46 mi).

1997 October 30 - 17:00 GMT - Launch Vehicle: Loki. Super Loki DLR KO-SL-228 Aeronomy mission Agency: DLR. Apogee: 75 km (46 mi).

2008 March 9 - 04:03 GMT - Launch Vehicle: Ariane 5. Jules Verne ATV Mass: 19,012 kg (41,914 lb). Spacecraft: ESA Automated Transfer Vehicle. Perigee: 336 km (208 mi). Apogee: 343 km (213 mi). Inclination: 51.60 deg. Period: 91.30 min. First launch of Europe's Automated Transfer Vehicle, a logistics vehicle designed for ISS resupply. The Ariane model 5ES launch vehicle, vehicle L528, had the enhanced EAP solid boosters and EPC core stage of the Ariane 5ECA, but with the new EPS-V upper stage with restart capability and a vehicle equipment bay instrument unit strengthened to carry the heavier LEO payload. Jules Verne carried 1300 kg of dry cargo, 302 kg of water and oxygen, and 860 kg of propellant to the ISS. For this test mission it had a dry mass of 10075 kg and 6475 kg of maneuvering propellant (in later missions the propellant could be thousands of kilograms less, in order to deliver more cargo).

The EPS stage made its first burn and placed the stack into a 137 km x 260 km orbit at 04:20 GMT. The EPS restarted at 05:05, burned for 30-seconds, and released the ATV into a 254 km x 272 km orbit.