Posted: Fri, May 4, 2007, 8:23 AM ET (1223 GMT)
Gusty high-altitude winds delayed Thursday's scheduled launch of two communications satellites on an Ariane 5. The Ariane 5ECA was scheduled to lift off Thursday evening from Kourou, French Guiana, and place into orbit the Astra 1L and Galaxy 17 commercial communications satellites for SES Astra and Intelsat, respectively. However, strong upper-level winds forced Arianespace to scrub the launch, rescheduling it for Friday evening at 6:29 pm EDT (2229 GMT). The launch will be the second Ariane mission the year by Arianespace.

Related Links:

•  Reuters article
•  NASA SpaceFlight.com article
•  Spaceflight Now launch status center
•  Arianespace mission update