Ariane 5 provided another record payload lift performance during its year-opening dual-passenger flight this evening from the Spaceport in French Guiana, which came one day after a Soyuz success from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan that lofted six Globalstar second-generation constellation satellites. Today’s launch orbited the Amazonas 3 and Azerspace/Africasat-1a telecommunications platforms, delivering a total calculated mass into geostationary transfer orbit of 10,317 kg. – which included 9,503 kg. for the two spacecraft, along with the dispenser system and integration hardware in Ariane 5’s dual payload “stack.” “This performance demonstrates once again the pertinence of our improvement policy, which enables us to augment the capacity of our launcher while maintaining its reliability,” said Arianespace Chairman & CEO Jean-Yves Le Gall in comments at the Spaceport. Tonight’s mission was Ariane 5’s 68th launch, and the 54th consecutive success for this workhorse Arianespace vehicle. It was designated Flight VA212, signifying the 212th liftoff of an Ariane-series launcher since 1979. Estimated orbital parameters at injection of the Ariane 5’s cryogenic upper stage were: - Perigee: 247.2 km. for a target of 247.0 km. - Apogee: 35,914 km. for a target of 35,891 km. - Inclination: 5.99 deg. for a target of 6.00 deg.
