Photos: Ariane 5 on the launch pad for heavy-lift mission

June 17, 2016 Stephen Clark

An Ariane 5 rocket is counting down to a second launch attempt Saturday to carry two communications satellites into space for DISH Network and Indonesian banking customers, taking the heaviest payload ever launched into geostationary transfer orbit.

Unfavorable upper level winds kept the 180-foot-tall (55-meter) rocket grounded Friday, but Arianespace targeted another launch opportunity Saturday at 2030 GMT (4:30 p.m. EDT). The rocket will blast off from Kourou, French Guiana.

These photos show the Ariane 5 on the ELA-3 launch pad at the Guiana Space Center Thursday night after rollout from the rocket’s final assembly building.

Photo credit: ESA/CNES/Arianespace – Photo Optique Video du CSG – P. Piron
Photo credit: ESA/CNES/Arianespace – Photo Optique Video du CSG – P. Piron
Photo credit: ESA/CNES/Arianespace – Photo Optique Video du CSG – S. Martin
Photo credit: ESA/CNES/Arianespace – Photo Optique Video du CSG – S. Martin
Photo credit: ESA/CNES/Arianespace – Photo Optique Video du CSG – P. Piron
Photo credit: ESA/CNES/Arianespace – Photo Optique Video du CSG – P. Piron
Photo credit: ESA/CNES/Arianespace – Photo Optique Video du CSG – P. Piron
Photo credit: ESA/CNES/Arianespace – Photo Optique Video du CSG – P. Piron
Photo credit: ESA/CNES/Arianespace – Photo Optique Video du CSG – P. Piron
Photo credit: ESA/CNES/Arianespace – Photo Optique Video du CSG – P. Piron
Photo credit: ESA/CNES/Arianespace – Photo Optique Video du CSG – S. Martin
Photo credit: ESA/CNES/Arianespace – Photo Optique Video du CSG – S. Martin
Photo credit: ESA/CNES/Arianespace – Photo Optique Video du CSG – S. Martin
Photo credit: ESA/CNES/Arianespace – Photo Optique Video du CSG – S. Martin

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Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.

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