[amsat-bb] Ariane Launch

[K6due@xxxxxxx]

PARIS (Reuters) - Western Europe's Arianespace rocket launch company 
said Tuesday it had scheduled the next mission of its new generation 
Ariane-5 rocket for Oct. 31.

In a statement issued from company headquarters near Paris, Arianespace 
said the launch would attempt to orbit the PAS 1R communications 
satellite for Connecticut-based satellite operator PanAmSat and three 
other payloads.

It said it would be the first Ariane-5 launch to use its structure for 
auxiliary payloads for mini or micro satellites.

The launch will be carried out at the European Space Agency (ESA) launch 
center in Kourou, French Guiana on the northeast coast of South America.

On Sept. 14, an Ariane-5 rocket placed in orbit the Astra 2B satellite 
for Luxembourg's Societe Europeenne des Satellites SA (SES) and the GE-7 
satellite for U.S. satellite operator Lockheed Martin Commercial Space 
Systems.

A launch using an older generation Ariane-4 rocket is scheduled for 
October 7.

The October 31 launch will be the 135th mission of the Ariane rocket 
series.

It will be the seventh launch using an Ariane-5 and the fourth 
commercial launch of the new generation rocket.

Arianespace said it has on order 35 heavy satellites to be launched 
worth over $3 billion. 

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