Ariane 5 GS launches heaviest telecom satellite ever built

[chris_in_space]

Ariane 5 has sucessfully launched today the Thaicom-4 satellite, which is the heaviest telecom satellite ever built (see story below).<br />Hope there'll be a second sucessful launch today. Go MRO, go MRO!<br /><br /><br />Edit: it would have been too beautiful to have to sucessful launches in one day, I knew it...<br /><br /><br /><br />"<br />PARIS (AFP) - A European Ariane 5 rocket lifted the world's largest-ever communications satellite, a 6.5-tonne unit owned by a private Thai operator, into space and put it into geostationary orbit, the Arianespace company announced. <br /> <br />The Thaicom-4 satellite was placed high over Indonesia half an hour after blasting off atop the rocket from the European Space Agency's base at Kourou in French Guiana, the Paris-based launch company said.<br /><br />Originally scheduled for July 12, the flight had been postponed for technical reasons by Arianespace.<br /><br />Built by Space Systems/Loral in California, the 320-million-euro (400-million-dollar) satellite is designed to provide Internet access and multimedia services for Asia, Australia and New Zealand for a period of at least 12 years.<br /><br />It was the fourth Thaicom satellite launched by Arianespace for the private Thai company Shin Satellite Plc, formerly Shinawatra Satellite, which is owned by the family of Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.<br /><br />The Ariane 5 ECA rocket which carried it aloft is capable of lifting into space a payload of almost 10 tonnes.<br /><br />Arianespace said the Thaicom satellite was "the heaviest commercial satellite ever delivered to geosynchronous orbit."<br />"<br /><br /><br /><br />Just a remark: it wasn't the ECA heavy version of Ariane 5 that launched the satellite as stated in the press release but the smaller GS version.