On Friday, May 21, Arianespace placed two communications satellites into geostationary transfer orbit: the ASTRA 3B commercial communications satellite for the Luxembourg-based operator SES ASTRA, and the COMSATBw-2 military communications satellite built by Astrium for the German Ministry of Defense.

Arianespace Flight / ASTRA 3B & COMSATBw-2

Arianespace was founded in 1980 as the world’s first satellite launch company. Today, it has 21 shareholders from 10 European countries (including CNES with 34%, Astrium with 30% and all European companies participating in the Ariane 5 programme). Since its creation, Arianespace has signed contracts with 78 customers and launched with Ariane launchers 298 payloads, accounting for more than half of the commercial satellites now in service worldwide.

Share Arianespace Flight / ASTRA 3B & COMSATBw-2

Sign up to save your podcasts

Arianespace Flight / ASTRA 3B & COMSATBw-2

Arianespace Flight / ASTRA 3B & COMSATBw-2