spacetoday.net: Ariane 5 launches two satellites

Posted: Wed, Apr 9, 2003, 11:35 PM ET (0335 GMT)
Ariane 5 prior to flight 160 launch (Arianespace)

The Ariane 5 booster successfully launched two communications satellites Wednesday night on the first flight of the vehicle since a December launch failure. The Ariane 5G lifted off from Kourou, French Guiana, at 6:52 pm EDT (2252 GMT), and placed its payloads into geosynchronous transfer orbit 38 minutes later. The Ariane 5 carried Insat 3A, a communications and meteorology satellite for the Indian Space Research Organisation; and Galaxy 12, a communications satellite built by Orbital Sciences Corporation for PanAmSat. Insat 3A will be located in geostationary orbit at 93.5 degrees east while Galaxy 12 will operate at 74 degrees west. The launch had been scheduled for Tuesday but was delayed one day to allow engineers to check an issue with Insat 3A. The launch was the first for a vehicle from the Ariane 5 family since the December launch failure of the upgraded Ariane 5 ECA on its inaugural flight. The Ariane 5 that launched Wednesday was the baseline, or "generic", version that has been in use since the booster's introduction in 1996. Four more Ariane 5 launches, all of the generic version, are scheduled for the remainder of 2003.