WHAT: Watching how a rocket (oh my gosh!!) is launched into the orbit ? WHERE: On a hill, the Carapa launch observation deck, near the space center of Kourou, a city in the middle of French Guiana. Kourou is in possession of the one and only space center in Latinamerica HOW LONG: The entire happening around the launch took something of an hour HOW MUCH: watching the rocket go up is totally free! And so it the entrance to the viewing deck
So this article isn’t just an ordinary trip.. as the title already suggests: it’s about the rocket launch in the middle of the tropics! How cool is that, right? Just that picture in the header of this article alone shows how extraordinary this space area is, right in the heart of the jungle of French Guiana. Feels like a shot from some evil base in a James Bond movie or something.
Okay, time for some context of how I got there, both in French Guiana and at the actual launch.
So French Guiana – a small country on the eastern shores of Latin America and sandwiched between Suriname and Brazil – is still a part of France and has a space centre: the one and only in South America. That by itself is already quite special. But another surprise was waiting for me.
At the end of my big trip through the Americas last year I ended up in Suriname. Paramaribo, Suriname’s capital, was an easy hub for me to get back to Amsterdam. I travelled the area for two weeks and due to its tropical vibe and jungle-like hinterland it felt as if I was back in Central America. Some things however felt weirdly familiar to me, silently reminding of the colonial past of this area.
I decided to take things slow in Paramaribo, just to get some time of packing my thoughts before packing the bags. While looking for some things to do in the area I was doing some online browsing and suddenly saw that this Ariane 5 (a big rocket) launch was planned during my stay in neighbouring French Guiana, near the city of Kourou. Hallelujah!
Once I had secured a place to stay in Kourou via Airbnb, I grabbed a bag and took a cab to the border, next a boat to French territory and another bus from Saint Laurent du Maroni through the hinterlands of French Guiana to Kourou. Desperately hoping to be in time – as I had read in the morning that the rocket would be launched at 3pm and I had experienced a bit of delay (welcome to the tropics…) I was happy to see when I arrived in Kourou that the launch had been postponed a couple of hours due to the miserable weather.
Thus I was first in line waiting in front of the observation deck, on the outskirts of Kourou.
So this is how that waiting game looked like at the start of the hill in the pouring tropical rain:
Now, there are actually quite some spots where you can see the launch from. After all this is a major happening, which you could basically spot anywhere near Kourou. As long as you’re not directly surrounded by giant trees.
Nevertheless I’d say it’s worth it to visit the observation deck. If only because it’s free and because it’s exciting to wait with other people for the launch. It had a bit of a New Year’s feel around it.. you know, waiting all together and counting down the seconds together.
After the ‘gates’ opened up everyone had to note down their name and country before they we’re able to enter the area. The walk to the upper part of the hill took something of 10 minutes, which wasn’t too bad. However, make sure to wear proper shoes. This laid-back tourist was still wearing flipflops (after all, in the morning I was thinking I’d spent the day in Paramaribo) and with those slippery slopes that didn’t make for perfect footwear at the time.
At the top of the hill there was a stand with some ‘spacial merchandise’ (you know – the French equivalent of NASA stuff)and a tv that showed us how the preparations behind the scene of the launch were going. Moreover we received some information for all of the visitors in the form of this flyer:
After all of the introductory talks on the tv, everyone was totally ready for it: the launch itself! We all (I think we were with 30 persons more or less) gathered around a deck and were waiting silently…
and *poef*… there it went up! Ariane 5 was in space within seconds.
I didn’t picture the moment, as I just wanted to see it without looking through a lens. Apart from that I guess it is quite difficult to grasp the moment as it went superfast. You may think: duhh.. it’s a rocket! But still, I thought it would take a while before the blast would throw the rocket into space. Alas! It was going up as fast as a distant firecracker and everyone tried hard to follow the red light as long as possible through the clouds.
Nevertheless, it was still incredibly insane to experience the circus around the launch and seeing this space base being surrounded by nothing but jungle.
There was only one fellow that seemed absolutely untouched, despite the turmoil of the happening. Can you see him in this last picture? ↓ I saw this sloth hanging in the tree next to the viewing platform, just mind his own business and sleeping straight through the blast.
Haha!
That’s all folks! You can find dates of the launches in here. In case you want to experience one for yourself. I would highly recommend it.
And here’s where to find that observation deck in Kourou! ↓
