May 4 2007
From The Space Library
Europe’s Ariane 5ECA rocket launched a two-satellite payload, weighing 9.4 tonnes (10.4 tons), from Europe’s launch center in Kourou, French Guiana, at 22:29 (GMT), setting a new benchmark for a commercial launch. The heavy-lift rocket carried Galaxy 17, an American geostationary communications satellite, and Astra 1L, a European geostationary communications satellite. Galaxy 1 would provide telephone and television services for South America, North America, and Europe; Astra 1L would provide direct-to-home video and voice links throughout Europe. NASA Administrator Michael D. Griffin attended the launch to observe the Ariane- 5ECA rocket, which would begin launching payloads to the ISS later in 2007.
Spacewarn Bulletin, no. 643, 1 June 2007, http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/spacewarn/spx643.html (accessed 26 March 2010); BBC News, “European Rocket Powers To Record,” 4 May 2007, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6621297.stm (accessed 10 June 2010).
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