Fifth successful Ariane 5 flight of 2006

Another busy year of Ariane 5 operations wrapped up today (December 8) with the launcher’s fifth success of 2006 — orbiting the American-built WildBlue-1 and AMC-18 satellites for two U.S. telecommunications operators.

With the on-time evening takeoff and a flawless performance, Ariane 5 lofted its 9th and 10th primary payloads of the year ­ a total that is more than all competing commercial launchers combined. In addition, Arianespace’s Starsem affiliate orbited one satellite this year using a Soyuz ST vehicle launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome, and another Soyuz/Starsem mission is planned for December 27.

See the full report on the completion of Ariane 5’s remarkable year of operations with the Mission Update in the News & Information section on Arianespace’s Website:
http://www.arianespace.com