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Arianespace Flight 159: Mission Accomplished! 23rd launch for Intelsat
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Kourou, French Guiana, February 15, 2003 - Arianespace today orbited 
the Intelsat 907 communications satellite for international 
communications provider Intelsat.

23rd launch for Intelsat: Arianespace's leading customer Intelsat 907 
is the sixth Intelsat IX series satellite to be launched by
Arianespace, and the 23rd Intelsat satellite orbited by Ariane. 
Intelsat's IX series is the latest generation of satellites deployed 
by this global communications provider.

Arianespace and Intelsat have worked together since 1983. More than 60
percent of Intelsat's satellites in operation today were orbited by 
the European launcher, making the company Arianespace's leading 
customer.

Ariane 4, an exemplary career
A total of 116 Ariane 4 rockets were launched from June 1988 to 
February 2003. Ariane 4 placed 182 satellites in orbit for over 50 
different operators. With the success of Flight 159, Ariane 4 performs 
74 successful launches in a row.

"The success of tonight reflects Europe's ability to mobilize its top
production and operational teams to meet a common goal," said 
Jean-Yves Le Gall, Chief Executive Officer of Arianespace. "I extend 
my sincere thanks to all of our teams in Europe and French Guiana 
alike. Based on Ariane 4, we built a true commercial launch service ".

Upcoming launch
The launch preparation campaign for the next Ariane mission began in 
Kourou on January 20. The launch is scheduled as from end of March 
2003. The mission, designated Arianespace Flight 160, will orbit two 
communications satellites: Insat 3A for the Indian Space Research 
Organization (ISRO), and Galaxy XII for PanAmSat.

Flight 159 at a glance
Flight 159 was Arianespace's first mission of 2003. It was carried out 
by an Ariane 44L, the version of the launcher with four 
liquid-propellant strap-on boosters, from Europe's Spaceport in 
Kourou, French Guiana. Liftoff was on February 15, 2003 at 7:00 a.m. 
GMT (4:00 a.m. local time in Kourou, 8:00 a.m. in Paris and 2:00 a.m. 
in Washington, DC).

Provisional parameters at third stage injection were:
Perigee: 199.0 km for a target of 199.8 km (±3 km)
Apogee: 35,880 km for a target of 35,944 km (±150 km)
Inclination: 7.00 degrees for a target of 7.00 degrees (±0.06º)

The Intelsat 907 satellite Built by Space Systems/Loral in Palo Alto,
California, Intelsat 907 will be positioned at 332.5 degrees East. It 
will join Intelsat's fleet of satellites providing Internet, 
telephony, television and enterprise network services for North 
America, South America, Europe and Africa. Weighing 4,680 kg at 
liftoff, Intelsat 907 is fitted with 76 C-band transponders and 22 
Ku-band transponders (in 36 MHz unit equivalents). The payload was 
designed and built by Alcatel Space. Design life in orbit is more than 
13 years.

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