Look back on Sunday’s launch of an Ariane 5 rocket from Europe’s jungle spaceport in French Guiana with two communications satellites for a commercial Norwegian telecom operator and Franco-Italian military authorities.
Blasting into space atop an Ariane 5 launcher, two communications satellites started missions Sunday to beam broadband services to ships, airplanes and offshore oil rigs for a commercial Norwegian operator and relay signals for the Italian and French armed forces.
Arianespace plans to launch an Ariane 5 rocket from French Guiana on Sunday after fixing a disconnected helium vent line that required the launcher be returned to a hangar for repairs.
A Norwegian communications satellite designed to connect far-flung clients and a Franco-Italian military spacecraft blasted off Sunday aboard an Ariane 5 rocket from French Guiana. Liftoff from the tropical spaceport occurred at 2000 GMT (4 p.m. EDT).
Rolling out for its first liftoff of the year, an Ariane 5 rocket journeyed out of a launcher assembly building Thursday and rode railroad tracks to its launch pad in French Guiana with two European communications satellites.
Arianespace has postponed this week’s launch of an Ariane 5 rocket with two European communications satellites to replace a faulty fluid connector between the launcher and its mobile launch platform, officials said Tuesday.
Last week’s successful launch of a Vega rocket with a European re-entry technology demonstrator marked the first of at least 11 flights planned this year by Arianespace to put communications satellites, Earth observatories and research probes into space.