PARIS, Feb 12 (Reuters) - Europe launched the first of a larger new version of its Ariane 6 rocket on Thursday, propelling 32 satellites for Amazon AMZN.O to low Earth orbit.

Lift-off took place at 1:45 p.m. local time (1645 GMT) from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, and separation of the last satellite occurred after 114 minutes, the European Space Agency said.

Operated by Arianespace, the mission took place on the maiden flight of the four-booster Ariane 64, the larger of two versions of the Ariane 6 space launcher, produced by Airbus AIR.PA and Safran SAF.PA joint venture ArianeGroup.

It marks the start of 18 Ariane 6 launches contracted for the Amazon Leo constellation, previously known as Kluipert.

(Reporting by Tim Hepher, Editing by Nick Zieminski)

((tim.hepher@thomsonreuters.com; +33 1 49 49 54 52; Reuters Messaging: tim.hepher.thomsonreuters@reuters.net/))