Ariane 5 Mission Status Center

Riding on a mobile launch platform, an Ariane 5 rocket made the 1.7-mile trip from its final assembly building to the ELA-3 launch zone in Kourou, French Guiana, on Monday morning, one day before its blastoff on a commercial mission with Australian and Indian communications satellites.

Two communications satellites built in California launched Saturday aboard the third Ariane 5 flight of the year after unacceptable upper level winds kept the rocket grounded Friday. The European rocket lifted off from French Guiana at 2138 GMT (5:38 p.m. EDT) with payloads for DISH Network and BRI, a major Indonesian bank.

A launch readiness review Friday cleared an Ariane 5 rocket for liftoff Tuesday with two communications satellites for Arabsat and India, the first three missions from Europe’s spaceport in French Guiana scheduled in less than 40 days.