Ariane 5 Rocket Launches 3 Spacecraft Into Orbit From Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana
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Ariane 5 Rocket Launches 3 Spacecraft Into Orbit From Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana:
Europe's Ariane 5 has delivered two telecom satellites Galaxy-30 and BSAT-4B, and the Mission Extension Vehicle (MEV-2), into their planned transfer orbits. There are also four notable updates to the launch vehicle.
Arianespace announced liftoff at 23:04 BST (00:04 CEST, 19:04 local time) this evening from Europe's Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, for a mission lasting about 47 minutes.
Galaxy-30, with a launch mass of 3298 kg, was the first to be released after about 27 minutes. The 2875 kg MEV-2, also housed in the upper berth of the fairing, was released about seven minutes later.
Following a series of burns controlled by Ariane's computer, the Sylda structure encasing the 3530 kg BSAT-4B was then jettisoned. BSAT-4B was released into its own transfer orbit about thirteen minutes after MEV-2.
[...] This is the first launch following the restart of operational activities at Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana, after the suspension of launch campaigns that was imposed on 16 March 2020 due to COVID-19 measures.
[...] Flight VA253 was the 109th Ariane 5 mission.
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