More than two years after its inaugural flight ended in disaster, the European Space Agency (ESA) launched the Ariane-5 ECA rocket from Kourou, French Guiana on February 12, 2005. The 780-ton rocket can carry a 10-ton payload. It is the most powerful rocket in Europe and the most powerful commercial launcher in the world. In the U.S., a Boeing Delta IV rocket is used in the same way. In the successful Ariane Flight 164, a U.S.-Spanish satellite and an ESA micro-satellite were put in their orbits 31 minutes after the lift-off. On December 11, 2002, the ESA tried to launch a rocket carrying two telecommunications satellites from French Guiana. Three minutes after lift-off the rocket went out of control and was destroyed, losing the satellites as well.