European Ariane rocket launched

PARIS (AFP) Apr 10, 2003
A European Space Agency Ariane 5 rocket took off late Wednesday from Europe's space base in South America, the first launch of the craft since a disastrous failure in December cast a shadow over its reliability, officials at the Arianespace company said.

The launcher carried two telecommunications satellites, the 2.95-tonne INSAT 3A for the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the 1.76-tonne Galaxy XII for the US telecoms operator PanAmSat, which are to be placed in geostationary orbit.

Liftoff at Kourou, in French Guiana, took place late at 7:52 pm local time (2252 GMT), the Arianespace officials said at their headquarters near Paris.

It was the first launch of an Ariane 5 since December 12, when a beefed-up version of the rocket, an Ariane 5-ECA, suddenly veered off course on its maiden flight. Mission controllers had to blow up the launcher along with two satellites.

The failure, which was reckoned to have cost half a billion dollars, was a major setback for Europe's commercial satellite launch industry.

The latest launch was initially scheduled for Tuesday, but was postponed only hours before takeoff.

An ISRO spokesman said the organisation had requested the postponement after it reported an anomaly in the satellite.

SPACE.WIRE