The rocket blasted off from the European space centre at Kourou, French Guiana, at 2137 GMT Friday.

The 5.9-tonne United Arab Emirates satellite Yahsat Y1A built by Astrium and Thales Alenia Space will supply high definition television to the Middle East, Africa, Europe and South West Asia.

The Intelsat New Dawn satellite, weighing three tonnes at takeoff, will offer a range of services including telephone and Internet to Africa. It was built by Orbital Sciences Corporation.

Arianespace president Jean-Yves Le Gall acknowledged that the launch was three weeks late, after an "aborted" attempt on March 30.

del.icio.us	Digg	Reddit
YahooMyWeb	Google	Facebook

Ariane Ariane 5 enjoys second successful launch for 2011 Ariane rocket launches two telecoms satellites SpaceX aims to put man on Mars in 10-20 years ULA Launches Fifth NRO Mission In Seven Months NASA Orbiter Reveals Big Changes in Mars' Atmosphere Dry ice find hints Mars was a wetter place: study A Tale Of Two Deserts Mars Rover's 'Gagarin' Moment Applauded Exploration India Eyeing Collaboration With JPL In 2016 NASA Lunar Mission BRP To Contribute To Canadian Moon And Mars Exploration Programs Naveen Jain Co-Founder And Chairman Of Moon Express Project Morpheus To Begin Testing At NASA's Johnson Space Center Carbon monoxide detected around Pluto The PI's Perspective: Pinch Me! Later, Uranus: New Horizons Passes Another Planetary Milestone Can WISE Find The Hypothetical Tyche In Distant Oort Cloud Tuning Into ExoPlanet Radio The Shocking Environment Of Hot Jupiters Radio signals could 'tag' distant planets Titan-Like Exoplanets Russia may launch light Soyuz carrier rocket by 2012 Weak Russian component downed Indian rocket Says Ex-ISRO chief Russia To Develop New Space Rocket By 2015 NASA awards $270 million in spaceship contracts Asia's star ever brighter in space What Future for Chang'e-2 China setting up new rocket production base China's Tiangong-1 To Be Launched By Modified Long March II-F Rocket Fast-Rotating Asteroid Winks For Astronomer's Camera Cold Asteroids May Have A Soft Heart WISE Mission Spots 'Horseshoe' Asteroid WISE Mission Spots Horseshoe Asteroid