Ariane 5 lifts off with ASTRA 5B and Amazonas 4A

Kicking off a busy sequence of launches from the Europe's spaceport in the jungle of French Guiana, an Ariane 5 rocket lifted off Saturday and put two satellites in perfect orbits to expand direct-to-home television programming in Eastern Europe and broadcast football matches at this summer's World Cup in Brazil.

The heavy-lift launcher, weighing 1.7 million pounds with full fuel tanks, fired its hydrogen-fed main engine and solid rocket boosters at 2204 GMT (6:04 p.m. EDT) to climb away from the ELA-3 launch pad at the Guiana Space Center near Kourou, French Guiana.

Officials from Arianespace, the French launch services company, declared the mission a success following the rocket's deployment of the ASTRA 5B and Amazonas 4A communications satellites about a half-hour after liftoff.

See our Mission Status Center for the latest news on the launch.