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.