Arianespace Ariane 5 launch

An Arianespace Ariane 5 rocket soars from a launch pad at the Guiana Space Center Kourou, French Guiana on Dec. 29, 2010, carrying two new communications satellites for different customers. 

It was the sixth and last Ariane 5 rocket launch of 2010, and the last rocket launch of the year. 

Credit: Arianespace

The heavy-lift launcher, making its 55th flight, climbed steeply through the late afternoon sky and headed downrange for a half-hour trek into geosynchronous transfer orbit to deliver the Spanish Hispasat 1E and South Korea's Koreasat 6 spacecraft.