spacetoday.net: Ariane 5 launches three satellites

Posted: Fri, Aug 21, 2020, 5:48 PM ET (2148 GMT)
Ariane 5 launch of Galaxy-30, MEV-2, and BSAT-4b, August 2020 (Arianespace)

A long-delayed Ariane 5 launched three commercial satellites Saturday. The Ariane 5 lifted off from Kourou, French Guiana, at 6:04 pm EDT (2204 GMT) and deployed the Galaxy 30, MEV-2 and BSAT-4b satellites into geostationary transfer orbits. The launch was the first from Kourou since February, a gap caused by the closure of the spaceport for several months during the coronavirus pandemic. A launch attempt two weeks earlier was scrubbed because of technical problems, and weather delayed the launch an additional day. Galaxy-30 and BSAT-4b are communications satellites for Intelsat and Japanese operator BSAT, while MEV-2 is a satellite life extension spacecraft built by Northrop Grumman that will initially service the Intelsat 10-02 satellite.