Arianespace wrapped up another successful year of operations with today’s orbiting of the French Helios 2B military observation satellite, which was lofted on the seventh Ariane 5 launch in 2009.

Arianespace Flight / HELIOS 2B

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.

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Arianespace Flight / HELIOS 2B

Arianespace Flight / HELIOS 2B