Flight VA231 will place into geostationary transfer orbit the Sky Muster^TM II and GSAT-18 telecommunications satellites.

As the weather forecast for tomorrow is favorable, the liftoff of the Ariane 5 is now planned for Wednesday, October 5, 2016, as early as possible within the following launch window:

• Between 05:30 p.m. and 06:45 p.m., Kourou time
• Between 04:30 p.m. and 05:45 p.m., Washington D.C. time
• Between 20:30 and 21:45, Universal Time (UTC)
• Between 10:30 p.m. and 11:45 p.m., Paris time
• Between 02:00 a.m. and 03:15 a.m., Bangalore, India time on October 6
• Between 07:30 a.m. and 08:45 a.m., Sydney, Australia time on October 6.

The launcher, with its Sky Muster^TM II and GSAT-18 satellite payloads, remains in a safe standby condition.