spacetoday.net: Final Ariane 4 launch a success

Posted: Sat, Feb 15, 2003, 9:51 AM ET (1451 GMT)
Ariane 44L file photo (Arianespace)

An Ariane 4 booster successfully placed an Intelsat communications satellite into orbit in the final mission for the venerable booster. The Ariane 44L lifted off from Kourou, French Guiana at 2:00 am EST (0700 GMT) Saturday after three days of delays because of strong upper-level winds. The booster placed its payload, the Intelsat 907 communications satellite, into a geosynchronous transfer orbit 21 minutes after liftoff. Intelsat 907 is a Space Systems/Loral 1300-series spacecraft that will provide C- and Ku-band services for the Americas, Europe, and Africa from 27.5 degrees west longitude. The launch was the last Ariane 4 launch, as Arianespace retires the booster in favor of the heavy-lift Ariane 5. The Ariane 4 flew 116 times between June 1998 and Saturday, with the final 74 launches all successful. The next Ariane launch is scheduled for late March, when a "generic" Ariane 5 launches the Insat-3A and Galaxy 12 communications spacecraft. That will be the first launch for the Ariane 5 since the failure of the inaugural launch of the more powerful Ariane 5 ECA in December 2002.