| 
 Ariane launches communications satellite 
Posted: Tue, Apr 16, 2002, 11:48 PM ET (0348 GMT)  
An Ariane 4 successfully launched a communications satellite for New Skies Satellites Tuesday evening on the 150th Ariane mission ever.  The Ariane 44L, the version of the Ariane 4 with four liquid-propellant strap-on boosters, lifted off from Kourou, French Guiana at 7:02 pm EDT (2302 GMT) Tuesday.  The launch was delayed by about ten minutes because of a minor technical issue.  The booster placed into geostationary transfer orbit NSS-7, a Lockheed Martin A2100AX-model spacecraft.  NSS-7 will be positioned at 21.5 degrees west longitude to provide video and data services for the Americas, Africa, and Europe.  The spacecraft will replace the existing NSS-K spacecraft and allow another, NSS-803, to move to a different orbital slot.  Tuesday's launch was the fifth for Arianespace this year.  The next launch, of the SPOT 5 remote sensing satellite, is scheduled for May 3.
Related Links:
 
  | 
  | 
| 
 about spacetoday.net · info@spacetoday.net · mailing list  |