Check out photos of Europe’s Ariane 5 launcher in the starting blocks at its tropical spaceport awaiting liftoff with two commercial television relay stations.
The launch from French Guiana is set for Thursday at 2010 GMT (4:10 p.m. EDT) carrying satellites into orbit for Eutelsat and Intelsat. It will be the 81st flight of an Ariane 5 rocket dating back to 1996.
Photo credit: Credit: ESA/CNES/Arianespace – Optique Video du CSG – P. PironPhoto credit: Credit: ESA/CNES/Arianespace – Optique Video du CSG – P. PironPhoto credit: Credit: ESA/CNES/Arianespace – Optique Video du CSG – P. PironPhoto credit: Credit: ESA/CNES/Arianespace – Optique Video du CSG – P. PironPhoto credit: Credit: ESA/CNES/Arianespace – Optique Video du CSG – P. PironPhoto credit: Credit: ESA/CNES/Arianespace – Optique Video du CSG – P. Piron
A work stoppage at the Ariane 5 rocket’s launch base in South America prevented rollout of the booster to the launch pad Monday, pushing back the liftoff of two communications satellites for Brazil and South Korea until at least Wednesday.
The first Ariane 5 launch since a mission flew off course Jan. 25, deploying two communications satellites into an off-target orbit, is underway. Liftoff with the DSN 1/Superbird 8 and Hylas 4 communications satellites occurred on time at 2134 GMT (5:34 p.m. EDT).
Four European navigation satellites fastened on top of an Ariane 5 rocket lifted off from Kourou, French Guiana, at 1836:07 GMT (1:36:07 p.m. EST) Tuesday to propel the Galileo navigation network closer to global service. The Ariane 5’s upper stage delivered the spacecraft to a circular orbit more than 14,000 miles above Earth around four hours after launch.
