The green light has been given for Ariane 5’s year-ending flight with the French Helios 2B military observation satellite. This go-ahead followed today’s successful launch readiness review – which validated the status of Ariane 5 and its payload, the launch infrastructure at Europe’s Spaceport, and the network of downrange tracking stations. Liftoff of this Ariane 5 GS is set for 1:26 p.m. on December 9, with Helios 2B being injected into a Sun-synchronous polar orbit during a mission lasting 59 min., 23 sec.