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09 MAR. 2001
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Just before midnight last night (23:51 CET) Flight 140 successfully lifted off from Europe’s spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. The Ariane-5 launcher was carrying two telecommunications satellites to be placed into geostationary orbit: Eurobird for the European satellite operator Eutelsat and BSAT 2a for the Japanese operator B-SAT.
The final launch countdown commenced 9 hours before the main stage engine was ignited. This was closely followed 7 seconds later by the ignition of the two solid boosters needed to lift the 46-metre-tall Ariane-5 into space. It took just another 7 seconds before the Ariane-5 was on its way.
This was the first mission in the new millennium for the Ariane-5 launcher, developed by ESA’s Launchers Programme.
Flight 137 – a successful start for 2001
The first satellite launch of 2001 successfully lifted off from the European Space Port at Kourou late yesterday. The Ariane-44P launcher carried into orbit the Eurasiasat 1 satellite which had a lift-off mass of approximately 3535 kilogrammes. This is the first commercial satellite launch of the new millennium and the third Turkish satellite to be boosted into orbit by an Ariane launcher.
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Arianegroup
Leader mondial de l’accès à l’espace, au service de ses clients institutionnels et commerciaux et de l’indépendance stratégique de l’Europe.
Kourou - Europe's Spaceport
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