Ariane 4 launches communications satellite
Posted: Tue, Dec 17, 2002, 9:33 PM ET (0233 GMT)
Less than a week after the failed launch of an Ariane 5, an Ariane 4 booster successfully launched a European communications satellite. The Ariane 44L, the version of the Ariane 4 equipped with four liquid-propellant strap-on boosters, lifted off from Kourou, French Guiana on schedule at 6:04 pm EST (2304 GMT) Tuesday. The booster's payload, the NSS 6 spacecraft for Netherlands-based New Skies Satellites, separated from the booster 21 minutes after launch. The spacecraft, a Lockheed Martin A2100AX, will provide Ku-band video and broadband data services from 95 degrees east longitude. The launch is the 73rd consecutive successful launch of an Ariane 4 booster dating back to 1994. It is also the next to last Ariane 4 launch, as the booster is phased out in favor of the Ariane 5; the last Ariane 4 launch is scheduled for early 2003. The launch comes less than a week after an upgraded version of the Ariane 5 failed in its debut flight.
Less than a week after the failed launch of an Ariane 5, an Ariane 4 booster successfully launched a European communications satellite. The Ariane 44L, the version of the Ariane 4 equipped with four liquid-propellant strap-on boosters, lifted off from Kourou, French Guiana on schedule at 6:04 pm EST (2304 GMT) Tuesday. The booster's payload, the NSS 6 spacecraft for Netherlands-based New Skies Satellites, separated from the booster 21 minutes after launch. The spacecraft, a Lockheed Martin A2100AX, will provide Ku-band video and broadband data services from 95 degrees east longitude. The launch is the 73rd consecutive successful launch of an Ariane 4 booster dating back to 1994. It is also the next to last Ariane 4 launch, as the booster is phased out in favor of the Ariane 5; the last Ariane 4 launch is scheduled for early 2003. The launch comes less than a week after an upgraded version of the Ariane 5 failed in its debut flight.
Related Links:
| <<previous article | next article>> |
|
news in brief
|
|
NASA to launch Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope in September
Posted: Sat, Apr 25 10:54 AM ET (1454 GMT) |
|
news links
|
|
Friday, May 1
FCC Adopts New Satellite Spectrum Sharing Rules
Broadband Breakfast — 6:04 am ET (1004 GMT) New FCC Rules Could Mean 'Sevenfold' Capacity Increase for Starlink
PC Magazine — 6:03 am ET (1003 GMT) Space Command moves into first Redstone building
Axios — 6:01 am ET (1001 GMT) Sierra Space Elects Retired Lieutenant General John E. Shaw to Board of Directors
PR Newswire — 6:01 am ET (1001 GMT) Spacecom Takes Operational Control of Facility in Alabama
US Dept. of Defense — 6:01 am ET (1001 GMT) |
