Ariane rocket puts two satellites into orbit

By Laurent Marot

KOUROU, French Guiana (Reuters) - A heavy-lift Ariane-5 rocket blasted off from French Guiana on Friday putting into orbit two telecommunications satellites, space officials said.

The rocket was launched from Europe's space base in Kourou, on the north-east coast of South America, at 11.29 p.m. British time.

High altitude winds meant the first launch attempt was scrapped on Thursday.

Billed by the Arianespace company as a cost effective launcher for large satellites, the rocket is capable of launching payloads of up to 10 metric tonnes. This adds more than three tonnes of capacity compared with the previous generation Ariane-5 in service since the mid-1990s.

Arianespace is 28 percent owned by European aerospace giant EADS.

Twenty-seven minutes after launch, the rocket released into a preliminary orbit Astra 1L, a 4.5 metric tonne satellite designed to provide direct-to-home broadcasting throughout Europe.

Martin Halliwell, SES Astra's satellite mission director, said: "This satellite's main job is to consolidate our fleet ... it's an extremely important position for us, it allows us to transmit direct-to-home television to over 107 million homes."

Astra 1L, owned by Luxembourg-based SES Astra a division of SES Global, was built in the United States by Lockheed Martin Space Systems.