Ariane 510, V142 's transfer from the BAF (Final Assembly Building) to the launch pad.
Ariane 5 launched Artemis, ESA's advanced telecommunication satellite, on Thursday 12 July 2001.
Artemis, built under the prime contractorship of Alenia Spazio, Italy, will test and operate new telecommunication technologies in satellite navigation, mobile communication services and inter-satellite data relay. The spacecraft is designed for voice and data communications between mobile terminals (mainly for cars, trucks and trains of boats), broadcasting accurate navigation information as an element of Europe's EGNOS and sending high-speed data communications directly between satellites.
Ariane-5 is an ESA programme for which ESA delegated management responsibility to CNES.
Launch operations are managed by Arianespace at the ELA-3 launch site at the Guiana Space Centre, Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana.