French Guiana: ESA Ariane 5’s sixth launch of 2012

Ariane 5 launcher lifts off on 52nd successful mission

Last Saturday an Ariane 5 launcher lifted off from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana on its mission to place two telecommunications satellites, Eutelsat-21B and Star One-C3, into their planned transfer orbits.

Liftoff of flight VA210, the 66th Ariane 5 mission, came at 21:05 GMT (22:05 CET; 18:05 French Guiana). The target injection orbit had a perigee altitude of 250 km, an apogee altitude at injection of 35 786 km and an inclination of 2°.  The satellites were accurately injected into their transfer orbits about 28 minutes and 33 minutes after liftoff, respectively.

Eutelsat-21B will be positioned above the equator at 21.5°E. It will deliver telecommunications services, data services for corporate networks and governmental administrations, and IP access in Europe, North and West Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia.

Star One-C3, to be positioned at 75°W or 84°W, will provide direct TV broadcast, telephone and long-distance domestic communications services for Brazil and South America.

The payload mass for this launch was 9216 kg; the satellites totalled 8250 kg, with payload adapters and dispensers making up the additional 966 kg.

Flight VA210 was Ariane 5’s 52nd successful launch in a row since December 2002.

Read more: ESA Portal - Ariane 5’s sixth launch of 2012