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A new Ariane 5 has arrived at Europe’s Spaceport as Arianespace maintains the active mission pace for its workhorse launch vehicle. This Ariane 5 was delivered to French Guiana yesterday aboard the MN Colibri, which is one of two roll-on/roll-off ships that transport components from Europe to the launch site in South America. The launcher hardware was transferred by road today from the port of Pariacabo to the Spaceport.

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Arianespace has further underscored its leadership position in the commercial launch services sector with a pair of new contracts announced today. These two agreements – for the Intelsat-20 and GSAT 10 spacecraft – bring to 32 the number of satellites on backlog to be lofted by Arianespace, along with six Automated Transfer Vehicles for servicing of the International Space Station.

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The final countdown for Ariane 5’s mission with the NILESAT 201 and RASCOM-QAF1R satellites is underway at Europe’s Spaceport. Liftoff of this workhorse vehicle is scheduled for this evening at the start of a 109-minute launch window that opens at 5:45 p.m. local time in French Guiana.

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Initial assembly is complete for the fourth Ariane 5 to be launched this year, as preparations continue for another of Arianespace’s trademark dual-satellite payload missions. During activity inside the Launcher Integration Building, the heavy-lift Ariane 5 was fitted with its ESC-A upper stage and vehicle equipment bay – which were installed as a single unit. This launch vehicle will orbit Eutelsat’s W3B telecommunications satellite and the BSAT-3b relay platform for B-SAT Corporation during a mission scheduled on September 15.

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Ariane 5 successfully lofted a pair of Thales Alenia Space-produced satellites from the Spaceport in French Guiana today – marking the heavy-lift vehicle’s 38th consecutive on-target mission. Lifting off from the Spaceport’s ELA-3 launch zone, the Ariane 5 ECA orbited two satellites that will provide telecommunications services to Africa, the Middle East and Persian Gulf states: NILESAT 201 for Egyptian-based Nilesat, and RASCOM-QAF1R for the Pan-African satellite operator, RascomStar-QAF.

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The heavy-lift Ariane 5 is ready for its third mission of 2010 following today’s rollout to the ELA-3 launch facility from the Spaceport’s Final Assembly Building. This August 4 flight will orbit the NILESAT 201 and RASCOM-QAF1R spacecraft, with liftoff scheduled during a launch window that opens at 5:45 p.m. local time in French Guiana.

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The heavy-lift Ariane 5 is ready for its third mission of 2010 following today’s rollout to the ELA-3 launch facility from the Spaceport’s Final Assembly Building. This August 4 flight will orbit the NILESAT 201 and RASCOM-QAF1R spacecraft, with liftoff scheduled during a launch window that opens at 5:45 p.m. local time in French Guiana.

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The green light has been given for Wednesday’s Ariane 5 mission with the NILESAT 201 and RASCOM-QAF1R spacecraft following today’s launch readiness review at the Spaceport. This go-ahead clears the way for Ariane 5’s rollout from its Final Assembly Building to the ELA-3 launch zone, which will take place tomorrow. Liftoff of the Ariane 5 is planned during a launch window that opens at 5:45 p.m. local time on August 4 in French Guiana.

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The strong working relationship between Arianespace and Hughes Network Systems was underscored with the unveling of a large Ariane 5 scale model at the North American satellite operator’s headquarters in Germantown, Maryland. The model was unveiled earlier this week by Arianespace Chairman & CEO Jean-Yves Le Gall and Pradman Kaul, CEO of Hughes Network Systems.

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A new liquid oxygen and liquid nitrogen production plant is being readied for service at the Spaceport in French Guiana. The new plant – which is to replace an existing 30-year-old facility – will offer a higher production output for liquid oxygen and liquid nitrogen, as well as significantly larger storage capacity. Its acceptance phase is expected to be completed by the end of 2010.