RI satellite to be launched

RI satellite to be launched

PARIS (AFP): The launch of the European Ariane rocket carrying an Indonesian telecommunications satellite will take place overnight Thursday, French space officials said Wednesday.

The launch, postponed from August 4 because of an electrical problem, will lift off from Kourou Space Center in Guiana between 7:52 p.m. and 9:42 p.m. Thursday (0548 and 0744 Western Indonesia Time Friday).

The Ariane-42P rocket has been specially adapted to take the 2.8-ton payload of the Telcom-1 satellite.

This latest launch will be the third this year and the first since April.

Arianespace, the company that runs the program, plans eight launches before the end of the year to make up for lost time.