European Space Agency successfully shot two telecommunication satellites NSS-12 and THOR 6 aboard Ariane 5 ECA launcher at 2000 GMT Thursday from Arianespace in Kourou, French Guiana.
Ariane 5 was ignited at the South American jungle of Kourou, with two direct broadcast satellites on mission: NSS-12, for the operator of SES World Skies, a cross-continent satellite operator, and THOR 6 for Norwegian mobile operator Telenor.
After climbing vertically for 6 seconds, Ariane 5 then rotated towards the East, heading to the proper orbit, the live webcast of Arianespace
headquartered near Paris showed.
About 27 minutes after the lift-off, NSS-12, on the upper stage of the launcher, was firstly ejected, two more minutes later, the other passenger THOR 6 was separated from the white launcher.
The U.S.-made relay platform NSS-12, a replacement of NSS-703 at 57 degrees East, will promote the capacity and transmission power to provide telecommunication and direct-to-home television service, which cover the Middle East and Europe, Central and South Asia and East Africa.
The SES World Skies announced its control station in Australia have received initial signal from NSS-12, which has an potential life span of 15 years and weighs 5,622 kilograms.
THOR 6 will provide high power direct-to-home television services from the one degree West orbital position to Northern and Central Eastern Europe. It has a weight of 3049 kilograms and also a lifetime of 15 years.
The operator of Telenor hailed the successful launch later in the night.
The liftoff on Thursday is the sixth flight of Ariane 5 in 2009 and the 192nd launch of an Ariane vehicle since the launcher station began operation
in 1979.