CP004-2009 - Successfull 43rd AR5 launch
43rd SUCCESSFUL LAUNCH OF ARIANE 5
After lift-off from Kourou, French Guiana, an Ariane 5 ECA launcher successfully placed two television broadcasting satellites in orbit on12 February 2009 at 11:00 pm Paris local time: they were HOT BIRDTM 10 for the European operator Eutelsat and NSS-9 for the global operator SES NEW SKIES, part of the SES Group. These two payloads were accompanied by two microsatellites for the SPIRALE demonstration programme, on behalf of the French defence procurement agency, the DGA.
Yannick d’Escatha, President of CNES, warmly congratulated and thanked the teams from CNES’s Launcher Directorate and the Guiana Space Centre “for yet another triumph, as well as the teams at ESA, Arianespace and all the industrial partners who contributed to this joint success.”
"This achievement confirms once again the excellent design and technical and operational maturity of the Ariane 5 ECA launcher", said Yannick d’Escatha, who thanked Arianespace’s customers, as well as the companies that built the two satellites, “for their confidence in France and Europe on this occasion.”
The President of CNES reiterated that “Ariane 5 has become the reference European launcher, ensuring a quality service to Arianespace customers for their satellites, and guaranteed access to space for Europe, which is vital for carrying out its ambitious space policy.” When the 29 European space ministers met in Kourou on the 20, 21 and 22 July 2008, in the context of France’s Presidency of the European Union, they reaffirmed that “with the member states and the European Space Agency, the European Union has the ability to become one of the world’s leading space powers.”
CP004-2009 - Successfull 43rd AR5 launch.doc (pdf - 221.1 KB)
