CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Arianespace is two for two in 2002 following a successful launch early Saturday from the edge of the Amazon jungle in South America.
Liftoff from the Guiana Space Center of an Ariane 4 rocket equipped with four liquid-fueled strap-on boosters came at 1:59 a.m. EST (0659 GMT). It was an on-time launch, although the satellite-delivery mission was delayed three days because of concerns with the vehicle's nose fairing, which were resolved.
Trailing a characteristic plume of intensely bright hot gas across an overcast night sky, the European commercial launcher quickly disappeared from view as it cruised away from the Atlantic Coast of French Guiana near Kourou -- an emerging Third World city that Arianespace launch commentators proudly announced is now home to a McDonalds restaurant.
Riding atop the 19-story launch vehicle was Intelsat 904, a 10,296-pound (4,680 kilogram) satellite that will provide Internet, television and other communication services to Europe, Africa, Central Asia, the Far East and Australia.
"Thank you very much," Terry Edwards, Intelsat Satellite Mission Director, told the entire launch team shortly after spacecraft separation was confirmed. "Successful launches are not random events but the result of a lot of hard work by dedicated professionals."
Built by Space Systems/Loral in Palo Alto, California, the Intelsat spacecraft is the fourth in a series of new generation satellites that Intelsat is orbiting. Another is scheduled for launch in March riding atop an International Launch Services Proton rocket, while two more are to ride Ariane rockets later this year."We will continue to do our best to deserve your confidence," Jean-Yves Le Gall, Arianespace's chief operating officer, told the Intelsat team.
For Arianespace, Saturday's space shot marked the 20th time an Intelsat spacecraft has traveled into space atop an Ariane rocket.
With plans to launch 12 missions this year, Arianespace has contracts to launch a total of 41 more satellites for a variety of customers during the next few years. Nine supply missions to the International Space Station also are booked.
Return to flight
Meanwhile, the Ariane launch team has no time to rest following Saturday's success.
Arianespace on Thursday plans to launch an Ariane 5 rocket on its first voyage since a botched launch last July left a pair of satellites in the wrong orbit because of a problem with the rocket's upper stage.
Officials grounded the Ariane 5, re-arranged the launch schedule to allow some high-priority missions to go on the smaller Ariane 4 and conducted hundreds of tests to determine what went wrong and a method for preventing the problem from happening again.
Ultimately it was discovered that a small amount of water was present in the upper stage plumbing, preventing the rocket from reaching full thrust. The water was leftover from ground tests on the upper stage's propellant tanks.
With a change of procedures in place, plus the lessons learned from a series of test firings of the upper stage engines under conditions simulating those experienced during flight, Arianespace officials have declared the Ariane 5 ready to return to duty.
The Ariane 5 is to carry the European Space Agency's Envisat-1 environmental research satellite into orbit. The launch window opens at 8:08 p.m. EST (0108 Friday GMT).
NASA's space shuttle Columbia also is set to launch Thursday at 6:48 a.m. EST (1148 GMT).
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