spacetoday.net: Ariane 4 launches communications satellite

Posted: Tue, Dec 17, 2002, 9:33 PM ET (0233 GMT)
Ariane 44L file photo (Arianespace)

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.