Posted: Fri, Aug 15, 2008, 8:55 AM ET (1255 GMT)
An Ariane 5 rocket successfully launched two communications satellites for Japanese and American customers on Thursday. The Ariane 5 ECA lifted off from the spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana at 4:44 pm EDT (2044 GMT) and placed the Superbird-7 and AMC-21 satellites into geosynchronous transfer orbit about a half-hour later. Superbird-7 is a Mitsubishi DS 2000 series spacecraft that weighed 4,820 kilograms at launch. The spacecraft will be operated by Japanese company Space Communications Corporation at 144 degrees east in GEO, providing television and other telecommunications services in the Asia-Pacific region using its 28 Ku-band transponders. AMC-21 was built by a Thales Alenia Space/Orbital Sciences Corporation joint effort, using an Orbital Star-2 bus, for SES Americom. The spacecraft weighed 2,500 kilograms at launch and carries 24 Ku-band transponders; it will operate from 125 degrees west in GEO, providing TV distribution services for the US and the Caribbean. The launch was the fifth Ariane 5 launch of the year and the third in just over two months.
