Early this morning, an Ariane 5 launcher lifted off from Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana on its mission to place two telecommunications satellites, JCSAT-13 and Vinasat-2, into their planned transfer orbits. Liftoff of flight VA206, the 62nd Ariane 5 mission, came at 22:13 GMT (00:13 CEST; 19:13 French Guiana). The target injection orbit had a perigee altitude of 249.9 km, an apogee altitude at injection of 35 911 km and an inclination of 2°. Read more
Japanese operator SKY Perfect JSAT Corporation has chosen Arianespace to launch its new JCSAT-13 communications satellite. This new contract is the 7th contract signed in 2009 by Arianespace with the major satellite operators. Jean-Yves Le Gall, Chairman and CEO of Arianespace, and Masanori Akiyama, President and CEO of SKY Perfect JSAT Corporation, today signed the launch Service & Solutions contract for the JCSAT-13 satellite.