Just a few hours after the successful launch of the European Space Agency Gaia satellite, Arianespace can confirm the dates of its first two Ariane 5 launches for 2014.
23 January 2014, an Ariane 5 ECA (VA217) will place into orbit two telecommunications satellites: ABS-2 for ABS and ATHENA-FIDUS for Telespazio, for the Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales (CNES) and Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI).
19 February 2014, the VA216 launch vehicle will place into orbit ASTRA 5B for SES and AMAZONAS 4A for Hispasat.
Stéphane Israël, Chairman and CEO of Arianespace said that he “would like to thank the clients of these two launches for their trust, and in particular the Luxembourg operator SES for accepting the February launch. The excellent collaboration between our teams has enabled us to plan these two missions for the early weeks of 2014. Once again Arianespace has shown commitment and flexibility in serving its clients.”