The following photos highlight these key industry players as they joined Arianespace Chairman & CEO Jean-Yves Le Gall at a post-launch gathering this evening:

A celebratory toast is made by the HISPASAT, KT Corporation and Arianespace teams in honor of Ariane 5’s on-target mission.  The group includes Sung-Man Kim, the Senior Executive Vice President of KT Corporation’s Network Group, who thanked all of those involved in conducting the launch prior to the closure of 2010.  “To meet the year-end launch, your team did a very good job to complete all necessary integration and assembly activities…working at midnight and even sacrificing your Christmas holiday,” he said.

Also attending the launch was John Celli, the president of Space Systems/Loral, who is shown with Arianespace’s Le Gall.  Space Systems/Loral built satellite payloads that were lofted on the final two Ariane 5 missions of 2010, as its Hispasat 1E satellite launched today was preceded by the company-produced Intelsat 17 payload orbited by Arianespace’s previous heavy-lift flight, performed on November 26.