BY SPACEFLIGHT NOW WRITERS

October 29, 2000 -- Follow the preparations and launch of the first Europe*Star communications satellite aboard an Arianespace Ariane 4 rocket. Reload this page for the very latest on the mission.

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2000

A powerful telecommunications satellite that will link three continents rode into space today from the jungles of South America aboard the 100th Ariane 4 rocket. Read our full launch story.

0620 GMT (1:20 a.m. EST)

Plus+21 minutes. SPACECRAFT SEPARATION! The first communications satellite for London-based Europe*Star has been released into space from the Ariane's third stage, completing tonight's successful launch of Arianespace Flight 134. The craft will be used for video and data transmission and Internet connection across Europe, the Middle East, Southern Africa, the Indian Subcontinent and South East Asia. This marks the 58th consecutive success for Ariane 4.

Check back later this morning for a full wrap up story on the launch and pictures.

0618 GMT (1:18 a.m. EST)

Plus+19 minutes, 40 seconds. Just over a minute until payload release. Altitude now 286 km, velocity is 9.68 km/sec.

0618 GMT (1:18 a.m. EST)

Plus+19 minutes. Third stage has shut down to complete the powered flight. The stage will now provide the necessary pointing for deployment of the Europe*Star spacecraft in the next minute.

0617 GMT (1:17 a.m. EST)

Plus+18 minutes. Under a minute left in the third stage burn. The Libreville tracking station in Africa has acquired the Ariane 4 rocket.

0616 GMT (1:16 a.m. EST)

Plus+17 minutes, 40 seconds. The rocket has bottomed out in its sling-shot to orbit and now climbing higher.

0615 GMT (1:15 a.m. EST)

Plus+16 minutes.

0613 GMT (1:13 a.m. EST)

Plus+14 minutes. Less than five minutes left in the third stage burn. Officials report all data coming from the rocket indicate systems are working as planned. Altitude is 208 km, velocity 7.24 km/sec.

0611 GMT (1:11 a.m. EST)

Plus+12 minutes, 30 seconds. The Ascension Island tracking station in the Atlantic Ocean has acquired the rocket's signal as it heads eastward away from South America. Altitude is 217 km, velocity 6.96 km/sec.

0610 GMT (1:10 a.m. EST)

Plus+11 minutes. Now reaching the period in flight where the Ariane rocket gives up a bit of altitude in order to gain velocity like a sling-shot. Altitude is 230 km, velocity 6.4 km/sec.

0607 GMT (1:07 a.m. EST)

Plus+8 minutes. Altitude 219 km, velocity 5.6 km/sec.

0606 GMT (1:06 a.m. EST)

Plus+7 minutes. The Natal tracking station in Brazil has picked up the rocket's signal as it travels downrange.

0605 GMT (1:05 a.m. EST)

Plus+6 minutes. Burnout of the second stage has occurred and the spent stage has jettisoned. The cryogenic upper stage has now ignited for its long-duration burn to deliver the communications satellite payload into orbit. Vehicle remains on course and free of any reported problems.

0604 GMT (1:04 a.m. EST)

Plus+5 minutes. The payload fairing has been jettisoned since it is no longer needed to shield the Europe*Star 1 spacecraft. Altitude 128 km, velocity 4.2 km/sec.

0602 GMT (1:02 a.m. EST)

Plus+3 minutes, 40 seconds. The four first stage main engines have shut down and stage separation confirmed. The second stage has now ignited. Altitude is 82 km, velocity is 2.8 km/sec.

0602 GMT (1:02 a.m. EST)

Plus+3 minutes. Altitude is 55 km, velocity is 2 km/sec.

0601 GMT (1:01 a.m. EST)

Plus+2 minutes, 30 seconds. A smooth flight so far for the Ariane 4 rocket. The twin strap-on liquid-fuel rocket motors have shut down out and separated from the first stage. The first stage engines are still burning.

0600 GMT (1:00 a.m. EST)

Plus+90 seconds. Ariane 4 continues the climb to orbit on the first stage engines and liquid boosters. Altitude is 14 km, velocity is 0.4 km/sec.

0600 GMT (1:00 a.m. EST)

Plus+60 seconds. All vehicle systems performing normal. The solid boosters have burned and will separate in about nine seconds.

0559 GMT (1:59 a.m. EDT)

Plus+30 seconds. Ariane is in the pitch maneuver to achieve the proper trajectory eastward away from the launch site. Main engines, liquid and solid strap-on rocket boosters are all firing as the vehicle screams into the predawn sky in South America.

0559 GMT (1:59 a.m. EDT)

LIFTOFF! Liftoff of the 100th Ariane 4 rocket and the first spacecraft for Europe*Star to provide telecommunications to three continents. And the vehicle has cleared the tower.

0558 GMT (1:58 a.m. EDT)

Minus-1 minute. Equipment aboard the Ariane 44LP rocket is being switched off ground-supplied power and to onboard batteries for launch.

In the final seconds of the countdown, activities will include releasing the inertial platform at minus 9 seconds, and the release command to the retraction system for the two cryogenic arms will be given at minus 5 seconds.

0556 GMT (1:56 a.m. EDT)

Minus-3 minutes and counting. Flight 134 will be the 9th Ariane launch so far in 2000 and the 134th in the entire Ariane program. It will be the 100th Ariane 4 mission and the 25th for the Ariane 44LP version with liquid and solid strap-on rocket boosters.

0555 GMT (1:55 a.m. EDT)

Minus-4 minutes and counting. The launch team is watching over the final topping off of liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen supplies aboard the rocket's third stage.

In the next half-minute, the launch time will be loaded aboard the Ariane rocket's guidance system. Also, the Europe*Star spacecraft will be confirmed on internal power and declared ready for launch.

0553 GMT (1:53 a.m. EDT)

Minus-6 minutes. The synchronized launch sequence has started. Computers are now in control of this final segment of the launch countdown.

During the next six minutes, the Ariane 44LP rocket, satellite payload and ground systems will be configured for launch. There are two master computers running the countdown. One is responsible for fluids and propellants and the other for final preparation of the electrical systems such as initiating the flight program, activation of the engine steering systems and power transfer from ground supplies to onboard batteries. The computers will control until minus 5 seconds when a majority logic sequencer takes over for first stage engine start at zero seconds. Engine performance checks are done in parallel by the two computers starting at plus 2.8 seconds. Finally, the command will be issued to open the launch table clamps for liftoff between ignition +plus 4.1 and 4.6 seconds.

0552 GMT (1:52 a.m. EDT)

Minus-7 minutes and counting. Arianespace reports all systems are "go" for an on-time liftoff this morning. The final weather update shows conditions are acceptable for launch at 0559 GMT

The computer-run synchronized sequence to govern the final countdown to launch will start in one minute.

0549 GMT (1:49 a.m. EDT)

Minus-10 minutes. The countdown continues smoothly. Liftoff remains set to occur at 0559 GMT (1:59 a.m. EDT).

A network of tracking stations are standing ready to relay data from the Ariane 4 rocket to engineers in Kourou. The early portion of flight will be monitored through the Kourou and Cayenne stations in French Guiana. About 6 minutes, 40 seconds into flight the Natal station in Brazil will pick up the rocket's signal as the third stage burn gets underway. At plus 12 minutes, 50 seconds the site on Ascension Island in the Atlantic Ocean will begin coverage. Libreville in Gabon will provide services beginning at T+plus 17 minutes, 40 seconds for spacecraft separation and the conclusion of Arianespace Flight 134.

0545 GMT (1:45 a.m. EDT)

Minus-14 minutes and counting. The Ariane 4 rocket's cargo is the Europe*Star 1 satellite. The craft will operate in geostationary orbit to provide video transmission, direct-to-home television broadcasting, Internet access and rural telephony to 36 countries across Europe, the Middle East, Southern Africa, the Indian Subcontinent and South East Asia.

0542 GMT (1:42 a.m. EDT)

Minus-17 minutes. The Ariane 44LP rocket stands 54.4 meters tall and weighs 418 metric tons at liftoff. The Europe*Star 1 spacecraft accounts for 4,167 kg of that weight.

0539 GMT (1:39 a.m. EDT)

Minus-20 minutes. Launch team members are watching systems on the Ariane 4 rocket, Europe*Star 1 spacecraft and ground support equipment. Everything is working as planned, officials say, and the weather is acceptable for this morning's launch.

The rocket is now fully fueled at the ELA-2 launch pad. The first and second stages and twin liquid strap-on motors were loaded with storable propellants earlier this week. The third stage was filled with cryogenic liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen over the last three hours.

0529 GMT (1:29 a.m. EDT)

Now a half-hour away from the appointed liftoff time of the three-stage Ariane 4 rocket. The status panel in the Jupiter Control Center is green across the board indicating there are no problems being worked.

0329 GMT (11:29 p.m. EDT)

The countdown is now passing H0-minus 2 hours and 30 minutes to the launch of an Ariane 44LP rocket and the Europe*Star 1 spacecraft at 0559 GMT (1:59 a.m. EDT). The rocket is being fueled and pre-flight activities continue at the Guiana Space Center's ELA-2 launch complex in French Guiana along South America's northeast coast.

Winds between 10,000 and 20,000 meters were unacceptable on Friday, causing a one-day slip in the launch. The winds violated range safety limits, causing officials to be concerned that the conditions would blow a toxic cloud or debris outside the preset impact area in the event of a launch failure. The decision to postpone the launch was made about seven hours before liftoff time, before the mobile service gantry was even rolled away from the Ariane 4 rocket. There has not been any update from Arianespace yet on the winds tonight. But the countdown has certainly progressed much further on this attempt than it did a day ago.

Our continuous live reports on the final countdown and launch will begin about a half-hour prior to liftoff.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2000

The countdown is again underway in Kourou for Sunday's early morning launch of the 100th Ariane 4 rocket and the first communications satellite for Europe*Star. Liftoff was delayed 24 hours due to unfavorable upper level winds over the launch site. The launch window opens at 0559 GMT (1:59 a.m. EDT).

Since 1988, Europe's Ariane 4 rocket has been at the head of the commercial launch industry -- placing spacecraft into orbit for various organizations around the globe. With a near-impeccable record, the Ariane 4 promises to remain at the level until the newer Ariane 5 rocket phases it out in the next few years.

The Ariane 4 uses six different versions of its Ariane 4 rocket to loft its payloads into space. The basic Ariane 40 features the three stages of the Ariane 4, but with no strap-on boosters. This version carries the lightest weight to orbit. The Ariane 42P has two solid-fueled strap-on boosters to aid the launch during initial ascent. Next on the ladder, the Ariane 44P adds four solid-fueled strap-on boosters to the Ariane 4 core block. The Ariane 42L removes the solid-fueled boosters and adds two liquid-fueled strap-on boosters instead. The Ariane 44LP features a mixed design with two of both the solid-fueled and liquid-fueled boosters. The most powerful version of the family, the Ariane 44L has four liquid-fueled boosters strapped to the base of the first stage.

After being in the initial "brainstorming" phase for a few years, the Ariane 4 program got the official nod on January 13, 1982. During the next few years, hardware for the new rocket was put under continuous tests to verify that the rocket was ready to fly.

Also during the time before launch, the ELA-2 launch pad used by the Ariane 4 rocket was declared operational and the facility saw its first launch in the form of an Ariane 3 rocket in March of 1986.

Ariane 4's first launch came on June 15, 1988, using an Ariane 44LP. That mission, called Flight 22, carried a pair of communications satellites and one small amateur radio spacecraft into geostationary transfer orbit.

The Ariane 4 has passed many milestones since that first flight. Some of them include the launch of the first military reconnaissance satellite for the Ariane family, the mission featuring the largest mass to orbit by an Ariane rocket (10,881 pounds using an Ariane 44L in 1998), and setting the world record for the most consecutive successful launches by any rocket. That number now stands at 57 straight successes dating back to 1995.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2000
2341 GMT (7:41 p.m. EDT)

SCRUB! Saturday morning's scheduled launch of the Ariane 4 rocket has been postponed 24 hours due to unacceptable upper altitude winds. Liftoff is reset for Sunday during a window of 0559-0759 GMT.

Now a reminder for those in a region observing Daylight Savings Time -- your clocks will be set back one hour at 2 a.m. local time on Sunday morning. So for the Eastern U.S., the first minute of the launch window (1:59 a.m.) occurs in Daylight Savings Time and then the rest of the period is in Standard Time. The launch window timing is generated based upon Greenwich Mean Time.

0401 GMT (12:01 a.m. EDT)

An Ariane 4 rocket it awaiting an early morning blastoff on Saturday to embark on the 100th flight of the venerable European vehicle that has dominated the commercial satellite launch market.

The mission also marks the 134th launch of the Ariane program. Flight 134 is set to launch during a launch window that extends from 0559 to 0759 GMT (1:59-3:59 a.m. EDT) during the wee hours of Saturday morning from ELA-2 at Kourou, French Guiana.

Flight 134 will carry the Europe*Star 1 communications satellite into a geostationary transfer orbit. Europe*Star 1 will be the first satellite placed into orbit for the new European consortium named Europe*Star UK, Ltd., a project jointly held by Alcatel SpaceCom of France and Loral Space and Communications of the United States.

Space Systems/Loral of Palo Alto, California, built and supplied the spacecraft, while Alcatel Space Industries of Toulouse, France, built the communications payload. However, Alcatel served as the primary construction contractor during manufacturing.

Europe*Star 1 and its 30 Ku-band transponders will be positioned in geostationary orbit in an orbital slot of 45 degrees East, 22,300 miles above the Indian Ocean. From that vantage point, the craft will be able to provide communications, multimedia, internet, and data transmission services to all or part of Europe, southern regions of the African continent, the Middle East, the Indian Subcontinent, and southeastern regions of Asia during its 15 years of scheduled operations. Featuring a wingspan of around 75 feet with its power-generating solar panels fully deployed, Europe*Star will weigh 9,167 pounds at the time of launch just around 24 hours away.

Recent events in final week before launch have included the launch rehearsal on Tuesday, the launch readiness review and vehicle arming on Wednesday, and the filling of the first and second stages, as well as the liquid-fueled strap-on boosters, with their storable hypergolic unsymmetrical dimethyl hydrazine fuel and nitrogen tetroxide oxidizer on Thursday. For this launch, the rocket will fly in the Ariane 44LP configuration -- the 25th time in the 100 flights -- with two liquid-fueled strap-on boosters and two solid-fueled strap-on boosters.

Special cranes inside the mobile service tower lowered the Europe*Star 1 satellite payload down on top of the Ariane 4's vehicle equipment bay last Saturday, October 21. The actual mating procedure was followed by connections of electrical and other umbilical cables between the rest of the vehicle and the satellite. Final tests were completed on Monday.

Preparations for Flight 134 began on August 23 when the Europe*Star 1 satellite arrived at the Ariane launch base to prepare for a launch on Flight 133. However, Europe*Star 1 was bumped from that flight and replaced by a Japanese communications satellite, due to an undisclosed payload problem.

Following a standby period of almost one month, spacecraft processing efforts resumed on October 5.

Meanwhile, in the launcher integration building, the launcher part of the campaign started on October 2 with the routine campaign start review, followed the same day by the lifting of the first stage to the vertical position. The second stage was mounted atop the first stage the following day.

The two liquid-fueled boosters of the rocket were positioned around the first stage one at a time on October 5 and 6. October 7 saw the stacking of the third stage and vehicle equipment bay. The vehicle equipment bay, or VEB, is commonly called the "brains" of the rocket because it contains all the systems that are critical for a successful mission.

On October 11, the Europe*Star 1 communications satellite's fueling operations began. This process takes several days to complete, partially due to the toxic chemicals that are involved.

The nearly complete Ariane 44LP vehicle took the one-kilometer trip between the launcher integration building and the launch pad on October 17, trailed on the next day by the integration of both solid-fueled boosters.

Looking ahead to this evening's countdown events, the clocks will starting ticking backwards at 1529 GMT (11:29 a.m. EDT). The 321-foot tall service gantry will begin rolling back from around the rocket to its launch position at 0004 GMT (8:04 p.m. EDT). Officials will begin filling the Ariane's third stage with its cryogenic super-cold liquid hydrogen/liquid oxygen propellant combo starting at 0224 GMT (10:24 p.m. EDT). Controllers in Guiana Space Center's Jupiter launch control room will begin the activation of the launcher's telemetry, radar transponder, and telecommand systems at 0454 GMT (12:54 a.m. EDT). Officials will give a green light to start the so-called Synchronized Launch Sequence just six minute prior to launch at 0553 GMT (1:53 a.m. EDT). Following this key milestone, a series of fast-paced events occur culminating the ignition of the first stage and liquid-fueled booster Viking engines at 0559 GMT (1:59 a.m. EDT). The ignition of the twin solid-fueled boosters comes around four seconds later, followed immediately by liftoff.

Flight 134 will take a standard Ariane 44LP ascent profile with a one-minute burn of both solid-fueled boosters and a two-minute burn of the liquid-fueled boosters. Also, a near four-minute burn of the first stage, a two-minute burn of the second stage, and a thirteen-minute burn of the third stage take place -- injecting the payload into its required orbit.

Stay with Spaceflight Now for complete coverage of the milestone mission of the Ariane 4 rocket. We will feature special coverage of the Ariane 4 program, plus provide play-by-play updates of the countdown and launch.