The 81st flight of Europe’s Ariane 5 rocket delivered two satellites to geostationary orbit Thursday for Eutelsat and Intelsat, and these photos show the launcher taking off with nearly 3 million pounds of thrust.
A hefty European-built satellite destined to broadcast high-definition television to the Middle East and a U.S.-made relay station programmed to serve Latin America and North Atlantic air routes soared into space Thursday aboard an Ariane 5 rocket.
Two new satellites for Eutelsat and Intelsat, two of the world’s largest telecom satellite operators, blasted off aboard an Ariane 5 rocket from South America’s Amazon jungle Thursday at 2034 GMT (4:34 p.m. EDT).
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.
Ground crews towed a towering Ariane 5 rocket to its launch pad in French Guiana on Wednesday for final flight preparations before Thursday’s launch with spacecraft for two of the world’s top commercial satellite operators.