ESA Portal - Ariane 5’s third launch of 2010 - images

On 4 August 2010, an Ariane 5 launcher lifted off from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana on its mission to place two telecommunications satellites, Nilesat-201 and Rascom-QAF1R, into geostationary transfer orbits.

Liftoff of flight V196, the 52nd Ariane 5 mission, took place at 22:59 CEST (20:59 GMT; 17:59 French Guiana).

The target injection orbit had a perigee altitude of 250 km, an apogee altitude at injection of 35 919 km and an inclination of 2º.

The satellites were accurately injected into their transfer orbits about 28 minutes and 32 minutes after liftoff, respectively.

Since the Shuttle retirement, Ariane 5 is now the only launcher that can reliably uplift and inject two satellites into orbit around the Earth. Thus, giving Europe and ESA and big competitive advantage in space transportation and uplift.