SPACE.com -- Arianespace Sends Intelsat 906 into Earth Orbit

Arianespace TV broadcast this view of the launch of an Ariane 4 from South America on Sept. 6, 2002. The rocket is carrying Intelsat 906.

An Ariane 44L rocket sits on its ELA-2 launch pad awaiting a Sept. 6, 2002 liftoff to deliver Intelsat 906 into Earth orbit.

The Intelsat 906 spacecraft is prepared for launch atop an Ariane 4 rocket at the Guiana Space Center.

Fully enclosed in its protective fairing, the Intelsat 906 spacecraft is readied for shipment to the ELA-2 pad at the Guiana spaceport.

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	Arianespace Sends Intelsat 906 into Earth Orbit By Jim Banke Senior Producer, Cape Canaveral Bureau posted: 03:15 am ET 06 September 2002

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- A powerful new communications satellite was sent into Earth orbit early Friday morning riding atop an Arianespace rocket launched from the edge of the Amazon Jungle in South America.

Equipped with four liquid-fueled strap-on boosters, the 18-story-tall Ariane 44L rocket lifted off from the Guiana Space Center at 2:44 a.m. EDT (0644 GMT). Barely 21 minutes later the satellite-delivery mission concluded as the Intelsat 906 spacecraft separated from the three-stage launcher.

The sucessful shot was the ninth for Arianespace this year and came on the heels of an Ariane 5 launch just 10 days ago. Company officials bragged that Friday's mission marked the 22nd time an Intelsat spacecraft was launched by Europe's commercial launch firm.

In fact, 10 percent of Arianespace's business during the past 20 years has come from Intelsat, officials said.

Still ahead for the Space Systems/Loral-built satellite are a series of burns using Intelsat 906's on-board engine. The maneuvers are to circularize the spacecraft's orbit and park it into position over the Indian Ocean at 64 degrees East longitude above the equator.

Once it reaches that perch and is fully checked out, Intelsat 906 will begin a 13-year mission to provide Internet, broadcasting, networking and other communications services to customers in Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australia.

Based on Loral's model FS1300 bus, this satellite features more powerful C-band and Ku-band transponders and boasts 13 percent more communications services capacity than the Intelsat 804 satellite it will replace. The spacecraft measures more than 100 feet (30 meters) from solar wing tip to tip.

Intelsat 906 will be controlled by Intelsat, Ltd., the company formed on July 18, 2001 by the privatization of an organization that was managed through international government agreements, and is in the history books as the operator of the world's first commercial satellite launched in 1965.

The company's constellation of satellites now stands at 23. Three more spacecraft -- Intelsat 907, Intelsat 10-01 and 10-02 -- are targeted for launch in 2003. An Ariane rocket will carry Intelsat 907.

For Arianespace the launch continued an impressive string of success for the Ariane 4, a family of boosters that soon will be retired in favor of the more modern and powerful Ariane 5. Only two more Ariane 4 vehicles are left to fly.

This was the 114th Ariane 4 shot, the 38th of this 44L configuration and the 72nd success in a row for the Ariane 4. The last time an Ariane 4 failed was in March 1995.

Arianespace's next launch is expected in about two months when an Ariane 5 is to fly with a new, more powerful upper stage. If it works, the upgraded vehicle will be able to carry some 10 tons into Earth orbit.