Mission Update
Arianespace receives its fifth Ariane 5 of 2008
July 28, 2008
AMC-21 is fueled in the Spaceport's S5 satellite preparation facility. |
The fifth Ariane 5 of 2008 is now under Arianespaces responsibility for payload integration and launch following its delivery by industrial prime contractor Astrium at the Spaceport in French Guiana.
Handover of this heavy-lift Ariane 5 ECA occurred with the vehicles transfer on Saturday from the Spaceport's Launcher Integration Building (where it was assembled by Astrium), to the Final Assembly Building, where Arianespace will oversee installation of the AMC-21 and Superbird-7 telecommunications satellites.
Both payloads have undergone their fueling, with each spacecraft completing the process inside the launch site's S5 satellite preparation building. Liftoff of the mission is planned for August 12.
Arianespace is maintaining its accelerated Ariane 5 mission pace, with a total of seven flights planned in 2008 – making it the busiest year of activity since the launcher's commercial introduction in 1999.
The previous on-target missions of 2008 were: the July 7 Ariane 5 ECA flight with ProtoStar I and BADR-6; June 12's launch with Skynet 5C and Turksat 3A aboard an Ariane 5 ECA; the April 18 success with Star One C2 and VINASAT-1, also with an Ariane 5 ECA; and the milestone March 9 flight of an Ariane 5 ES version with Europe's Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) for the International Space Station.
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