The check-out found it was the equipment, not the rocket, that was at fault, and thus the countdown was started again just past 8:30am in Washington, where hundreds of space officials from around the world had gathered at the invitation of the European Space Agency, CNES the French Space Agency, and Arianespace, the commercial firm that will operate the rocket as a cargo carrier. Some 28 minutes after liftoff, the rocket's passengers had been separated and deployed in space. Aboard this test version of the booster were a pair of instrument platforms, MAQSAT H and MAQSAT B, which measured the flight environment inside the launcher's payload fairing. These platforms also contained subsatellites. One, a 350 kg. satellite called Teamsat, will conduct five experiments ranging from orbital debris calculations to tests of GPS receivers.

Sixteen months ago, the Ariane 501 booster exploded seconds after liftoff on its maiden flight. An accident investigation later determined that the cause was improper software that misguided the booster's rocket nozzles and guidance platform while in flight. French space officials were determined to avoid another launch mishap, and took detailed and extensive corrective measures. Their actions seemed to have paid off Thursday, with the success of the 502 mission. Plans now call for the next flight of the Ariane 5 in the spring of 1998. Arianespace will operate that mission, which although still a test flight will carry a commercial satellite payload for a French customer. Ariane 5 is a multistage expendable space launcher roughly comperable in size and power to the Japanese HII, U.S. Air Force Titan IV, and Russian Proton.