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European Space Agency

Press Release

Successful Ariane launch
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18 December 2002

Just after midnight an Ariane 4 soared into the sky above Kourou in
French Guiana to place a new telecommunications satellite into orbit.
This is the 113th successful Ariane 4 launch, an outstanding record
for this, the workhorse of the Ariane family. 

On board the Ariane 44L launch vehicle, equipped with four powerful
strap-on boosters, was an NSS-6 satellite belonging to New Skies
Satellits N.V. Now that this telecommunications satellite has been
successfully placed into geostationary orbit it will cover all of
Asia, Australia, India, the Middle East and South Africa. 

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