KOUROU, French Guiana -- Europe's most powerful rocket successfully carried two satellites into Earth orbit after a thundering launch tonight from the edge of the Amazon jungle in South America.
Liftoff of the 16-story Ariane 5 booster from the Guiana Space Center came at 6:29 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (23:29 GMT); the first nighttime launch of this type of rocket, which briefly lit up the sky as it rose off the ground.
The launch was delayed due to weather and a technical problem that was quickly fixed.
Riding atop the Ariane space launcher were two communications satellites destined for orbits high above Earth's equator -- the Insat 3-B, for the Indian Space Research Organization and the Asiastar, for the Washington D.C.-based WorldSpace Corporation.
The satellites were released one at a time about 30 minutes after the launch.
Operators of both satellites hope that their communication services will bring news and information to extremely rural areas, to better educate and "open up" those remote areas of the world.
It took the rocket nearly 27 minutes to use up all its fuel, and then another seven minutes or so to go through the process of releasing the satellites into orbit.
First to separate from the Ariane 5 was the Asiastar satellite, followed by the Insat 3-B.
Tonight's launch marked the fifth flight of the newer Ariane 5 rocket and the first time the booster was used to carry two commercial satellites in one payload. Previous flights carried either development hardware or a single satellite.
"This is a really important step on the way to confirming our choices and strategies for establishing the dual-launch capability of Ariane 5," Jean-Marie Luton, president of Arianespace, said Tuesday before the launch.
Previous versions of the Ariane rocket have flown pairs of satellites at a time, and it is a business model that Arianespace officials say makes them more competitive in pricing its launch services.
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