Ariane 5 ECA Has A Moving Experience

The launch vehicle for Ariane 5’s third flight of 2008 is now under Arianespace responsibility after delivery by prime contractor Astrium at the Spaceport in French Guiana. Handover of the heavy-lift Ariane 5 ECA occurred with its transfer yesterday from the Launcher Integration Building, where Astrium performed the vehicle’s build-up, to the Final Assembly Building, where Arianespace will carry out payload integration and final checkout. This mission remains on schedule for May 23rd, with Ariane 5 carrying two passengers: Turksat 3A and Skynet 5C.
Skynet 5C is to deliver secure military relay links for military and government users, while Turksat 3A will provide telecommunication services and direct TV broadcasting for Turkey, Europe, MENA, and Central Asia. Arianespace is planning the busiest year of Ariane 5 operations since the launcher’s commercial introduction in 1999, with a total of seven missions scheduled during 2008. Two highly accurate flights already have been performed this year: the milestone March 9th flight of an Ariane 5 ES version with Europe’s Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) for the International Space Station; and the April 18 dual-payload Ariane 5 ECA success with Star One C2 and VINASAT-1.