... launcher elements for the initial Ariane 5 flight of 2015 were delivered this week to French Guiana aboard the MN Toucan – one of two sea-going vessels performing transportation rotations between Europe and South America. It marked an initial step for this mission, Flight VA222, to launch two spacecraft: Telenor Satellite Broadcasting’s THOR 7 and SICRAL 2, which will be orbited in the framework of a turnkey contract that the Italian Defense Ministry and the French DGA armament agency (Direction Générale de l’Armement) have with Thales Alenia Space Italy.
Is that construction inside the nozzle (tubing from the rim inward, and the big metal ring halfway up) part of the nozzle, or is it there to support the purple blankets around the nozzle?
Between 12 and 22 seconds in this movie, it seems some kind of tropical bird is screaming inside the building. Can birds get into the BAF??
Had a walk through of the BAF and saw the fairing in process and the vehicle.