Arianespace stepped up its 2010 launch pace with tonight’s successful dual-passenger Ariane 5 mission, which lofted payloads for the Middle East and South Korea. Lifting off from the Spaceport’s ELA-3 launch facility in French Guiana, the Ariane 5 ECA placed Arabsat-5A and COMS into geostationary transfer orbits – providing a payload delivery performance of approximately 7,400 kg.

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 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.

On Thursday evening, October 29, Arianespace boosted two direct-to-home (DTH) TV broadcast satellites into geostationary transfer orbit: NSS-12 for the operator SES WORLD SKIES, a subsidiary of SES, and THOR 6 for Telenor Satellite Broadcasting AS, a subsidiary of the Norwegian mobile operator, Telenor.

Arianespace achieved another commercial milestone with today’s Ariane 5 launch, which was the vehicle’s 33rd consecutive success and its fifth flight in 2009 – bringing total payloads orbited by the company this year to seven telecommunications satellites, two deep space telescopes and two piggyback spacecraft.

On Friday evening, August 21, Arianespace orbited two communications satellites: JCSAT-12, built by Lockheed Martin Commercial Space Systems for the Japanese operator SKY Perfect JSAT Corporation, and Optus D3, built by Orbital Sciences Corporation for the Australian operator Optus.

The Ariane 5’s 31st consecutive mission success was another record-setting flight for this workhorse Arianespace launcher – lofting the world’s largest commercial satellite, TerreStar-1, from the Spaceport in French Guiana.

Ariane 5 provided another demonstration today of its operational flexibility in Arianespace service by placing two payloads on their way to deep space missions that will provide new insights into the origins and future of our universe.

Arianespace initiated another busy year of launch activity with tonight’s successful Ariane 5 launch, which orbited payloads for two of the world’s leading satellite communications operators – Eutelsat and SES.

Arianespace wraps up another year of on-target Ariane 5 launches, orbiting the HOT BIRD 9 and W2M satellites for the Eutelsat telecommunications provider.