I agree, IF you change the perspective, so it's keep Europe able to fly stuff into space as needed, then Ariane 5 is a great program. It's just not true that i

I agree, IF you change the perspective, so it's keep Europe able to fly stuff into space as needed, then Ariane 5 is a great program. It's just not true that it's cheap at launching stuff into space, it's not true that it's the most successful, etc. It's WAY cheaper than the SLS, so clearly Europe isn't as bad off as America is when it comes to a national/govt launch system. I'm not trying to put Ariane 5/6 down, I'm merely saying, Ariane 5 is not the most successful program in the world to send stuff to space. Space X currently has that crown, but I'm sure eventually someone else will figure out how to do it better. Maybe not in my lifetime. NASA used to be the leader here, then ULA, now SpaceX. Maybe China or India will be next? I have no idea.