All is now ready for the November 8 transfer of the heavy-lift Ariane 5 ECA from its final assembly building to the Spaceport's ELA-3 launch zone. The vehicle is scheduled to lift off the following night during a 55-minute launch window that opens at 7:04 p.m. local time.

This flight maintains Arianespace's sustained Ariane 5 mission pace in 2007. During the previous four flights from January through October, the workhorse vehicle successfully lofted eight payloads - representing 80 percent of the world's telecommunications satellites carried to geostationary orbit during this period.

Riding in upper payload position on the upcoming mission is Skynet 5B, which was produced by Astrium for an in-orbit delivery to Paradigm Secure Communications. Skynet 5B has a liftoff mass of 4,635-kg., and when operational, it will handle secure communications services for the United Kingdom's armed forces, NATO and other countries.

The Ariane 5's lower passenger on Ariane 5 is Star One C1, a 4,100 kg. Satellite built by Thales Alenia Space for Brazilian satellite operator Star One. Equipped with a mixed payload of C-, Ku- and X-band transponders, it will provide communications, multimedia and broadband Internet services over South America.

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Launch Pad at Space-Travel.com