As a side curiosity, this was the first Arianespace flight that made a controlled de-orbit of a cryogenic* upper stage for safe disposal[0,1].<p>Ariane 5 didn't have this capability, because its hydrogen-oxygen engines weren't designed to be re-ignited in space.<p>The first Ariane 6 deorbit attempt (2024) did not succeed[2]—that upper stage is now space junk that will reenter in an uncontrolled manner. Not that that's particularly wrong: all rocket stages used to do that, up until very recently. (There's even dead nuclear reactors orbiting the Earth that will reenter with their spent fuel, at some random location—though that won't happen for a few centuries).<p>*(Their hypergolic stages used have to this capability, but they retired those 15+ years ago for performance)<p>[0] <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/planet4589.bsky.social/post/3ljqmxllg222r" rel="nofollow">https://bsky.app/profile/planet4589.bsky.social/post/3ljqmxl...</a> (<i>"Ariane 6002 deorbit trajectory, southward over the Indian Ocean with entry around 1910 UTC"</i>)<p>[1] <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/planet4589.bsky.social/post/3ljqfpgay5s2a" rel="nofollow">https://bsky.app/profile/planet4589.bsky.social/post/3ljqfpg...</a> (<i>"Thanks to those who confirmed (1) Ariane 6 did its deorbit burn and (2) deorbit location was over the Indian Ocean around 90E 35S"</i>)<p>[2] <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ariane_flight_VA262#Mission" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ariane_flight_VA262#Mission</a> (<i>"The failure left the upper stage stranded in a 580-kilometre (360 mi) circular orbit. At this altitude, their natural orbital decay due to atmospheric drag is expected to take decades."</i>)