CAPECANAVERAL, Fla. -- An Ariane 4 rocket successfully carried an internationalcommunications satellite into Earth orbit early Thursday and helped ease thestinging disappointment Arianespace officials felt in July after a botchedlaunch by a sister Ariane 5 rocket.

It was allbright smiles, warm handshakes and hearty back slapping at the European spacecompany's Jupiter 2 control center near Kourou, French Guiana when it wasannounced that Intelsat 902 had separated from the third stage of the Ariane 4 boostersome 20 minutes after an ontime launch at 2:46 a.m. EDT (0646 GMT).

“Bravo andcongratulations to all the teams who once again made this success possible,”Jean-Marie Luton, chairman and chief executive officer of the French-basedArianespace, said after spacecraft separation, his happy demeanor the completeopposite of when he spoke at the same podium in July following the Ariane 5misfire.

Preliminaryresults from the investigation into the July 12 failure indicate a problem withthe upper stage plumbing prevented the rocket from developing full thrust,resulting in Japan's BSAT-2B and the European Space Agency's Artemis advancedtelecommunications satellite being left in a low orbit.

With thecause of the problem identified, engineers are trying to understand exactlywhat course of action to take to get the Ariane 5 flying again, something Lutonis optimistic will happen very soon.

"Stepsthat have been taken should make it possible to resume launches before the endof this year," Luton said.

In themeantime, Arianespace will continue to rely on its less-powerful Ariane 4,which has proven itself to be the company's workhorse and -- includingTuesday's mission -- has racked up a string of 63 successes in a row.

For example,Arianespace's next launch is targeted for September 25. Its cargo will beAtlantic Bird 2, a spacecraft originally scheduled to share a ride with anothersatellite on an Ariane 5. Instead, an Ariane 4 will be pressed into service --a feat company officials say showcases their flexibility.

AnotherAriane 4 is to fly with a DirecTV satellite on October 18, Luton said.

Companyofficials have indicated their desire to resume Ariane 5 launches as early aslate November

Meanwhile,Intelsat officials are just as pleased as the Arianespace managers over thefact that their latest spacecraft is safely in orbit.

"Ourcompetent friends from Europe have once again delivered a satellite into orbitfor us. Now the hard work begins for us back in Washington," said ConnyKulman, top manager at Intelsat's headquarters in Washington, D.C.

The SpaceSystems Loral-built satellite will be moved into its final orbit over theIndian ocean during the next few days and then is expected to begin a 13-yearmission providing communication services -- such as high definition television-- to areas of Europe, sub-Saharan Africa, Central Asia, the Far East andAustralia by late October.