A European Ariane 5 rocket lifted off Wednesday with the Hellas-Sat 3/Inmarsat S EAN satellite designed for television broadcasting and airborne connectivity in Europe, and India’s multipurpose GSAT 17 communications satellite. Launch from Kourou, French Guiana, occurred at 2115 GMT (5:15 p.m. EDT).
A pair of ViaSat and Eutelsat communications satellites — one to broadcast unparalleled high-speed Internet from space, and another to connect the Asia-Pacific — streaked into space Thursday from French Guiana atop an Ariane 5 rocket, setting records for the heaviest and most valuable commercial payload ever put into orbit.
A month-and-a-half after a general strike in French Guiana halted launch preparations, an Ariane 5 rocket arrived at its launch pad Wednesday on the northeastern coast of South America, a day before hauling two communications satellites into orbit for the Brazilian government and a South Korean company.
Launching with two communications satellites to broadcast television to Brazilian homes and connect the islands of Indonesia, an Ariane 5 rocket blasted off from a space base at the northern edge of the Amazon jungle Tuesday, the first of seven planned flights by the European-built booster this year.
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