Photos: Ariane 5 Rolls to French Guiana Launch Pad for First Mission of 2018

January 24, 2018January 24, 2018 Patrick Blau 2865 Views Airbus, Airbus Defence and Space, French Guiana, GOLD, Orbital ATK, SES, Yahsat

A 55-meter tall Ariane 5 rockets rolls out from its Final Assembly Building to the ELA-3 launch pad at the Guiana Space Center on January 24, 2018 for liftoff with a pair of innovative communications satellites. Carrying a total payload mass of 9,123 Kilograms, Ariane 5 will be tasked with dispatching the SES 14 and Al Yah 3 communications satellites into a Supersynchronous Transfer Orbit for operators SES and YahSat as well as NASA whose GOLD instrument is flying as a hosted payload on SES 14 to study space weather.

All Photos: Arianespace/ESA/CNES/Optique Video du CSG