In July 2003, Arianespace joined with Boeing Launch Services and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to create the Launch Services Alliance. The flagship launchers for the Launch Services Alliance are Arianespace's Ariane rocket, Boeing's Sea Launch platform and Mitsubishi's H-II A vehicle. The agreement enables customers to seamlessly transition among three private spaceflight platforms for maximum flexibility to ensure delivery to orbit while allowing the Alliance's three members to retain their marketing autonomy. The arrangement is roughly comparable to the airline industry's "code sharing" agreements.
Famous quotes containing the words launch, services and/or alliance:
“I had often stood on the banks of the Concord, watching the lapse of the current, an emblem of all progress, following the same law with the system, with time, and all that is made ... and at last I resolved to launch myself on its bosom and float whither it would bear me.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“It seems I impregnated Marge
So I do rather feel, by and large,
Some cash should be tendered
For services rendered,
But I can’t quite decide what to charge.”
—Anonymous.
“Ah! how much a mother learns from her child! The constant protection of a helpless being forces us to so strict an alliance with virtue, that a woman never shows to full advantage except as a mother. Then alone can her character expand in the fulfillment of all life’s duties and the enjoyment of all its pleasures.”
—Honoré De Balzac (1799–1850)