The 162nd takeoff of a European launcher was to put in orbit two geostationary satellites, one Indian and one European.

It will also launch the European Space Agency's SMART-1 lunar explorer, which will be steered into an elliptical orbit around the Earth before heading slowly for the moon and carrying out observations from December 2004.

The flight had initially been scheduled for August 28 but was postponed on two occasions in order to allow the Indian Space Research Organisation to carry out extra checks on its communications satellite before launch.

SPACE.WIRE