Thales Alenia Space announced it has signed, on September 29, 2009, a contract with the APT Satellite Company Limited, a leading satellite operator in the Asia Pacific Region for the design, manufacture and delivery on ground of a high-capacity telecommunication satellite. APSTAR 7 will provide reliable broadcasting and telecommunications services over the Asia Pacific Region, Africa, Middle East and a part of Europe. more ››

Arianespace achieved another commercial milestone with today’s Ariane 5 launch, which was the vehicle’s 33rd consecutive success and its fifth flight in 2009 – bringing total payloads orbited by the company this year to seven telecommunications satellites, two deep space telescopes and two piggyback spacecraft. more ››

Telenor Satellite Broadcasting (TSBc) announced that its spacecraft, THOR 6, has arrived safely at the Guiana Spaceport in Kourou. THOR 6 will now go through its final preparations prior to its scheduled launch at the end of October, 2009. THOR 6 will replace the current Thor III satellite, which is set to retire in 2010, as well as provide additional capacity for expansion. more ››

SES WORLD SKIES, an SES company announces that its NSS-12 satellite has safely arrived at the European spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, onboard an Antonov cargo plane. The NSS-12 spacecraft, manufactured by Space Systems/Loral (SSL), a subsidiary of Loral Space & Communications (NASDAQ: LORL), will now be readied for launch onboard an Ariane 5 booster, scheduled for lift off on October 29, 2009. more ››

Astrium will deliver into orbit the first of two military communications satellites for the German Bundeswehr. The first satellite has been shipped to the European Space Centre in Kourou, French Guiana and is expected to be launched by an Ariane 5 launcher at the end of September. more ››

The SMOS (Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity) Earth observation satellite has been shipped to the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Russia where he will start its launch campaign for a Rockot launch scheduled on November 2nd. SMOS has left the Thales Alenia Space plant in Cannes on September 16th. more ››

Ariane 5’s payload fairing is hoisted into position for installation over Amazonas 2 in the satellite staging area of the Spaceport’s Final Assembly Building. Final payload integration is underway for Arianespace’s fifth Ariane 5 mission of 2009, with the Amazonas 2 telecommunications satellite now encapsulated in its payload fairing. more ››

International Launch Services (ILS) successfully carried the Nimiq 5 satellite into orbit on an ILS Proton for Telesat, the fourth largest fixed satellite services operator worldwide. This was the fifth commercial mission of the year for ILS and the seventh successful Proton launch of 2009. With the launch of Nimiq 5 today, ILS has launched half of Telesat’s operational fleet. more ››

International Launch Services (ILS), a world leader in providing mission and launch services to the commercial space industry, successfully carried the W2A satellite to orbit for Eutelsat Communications of France on an ILS Proton. The Proton vehicle lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 10:24 p.m. local time (12:24 p.m. EDT, 16:24 GMT). more ››

On 20th of December Arianespace orbited two communications satellites for the European operator Eutelsat: Hot Bird 9 and W2M. Arianespace and Eutelsat have teamed up very successfully for over 25 years, Arianespace launched more than half of Eutelsat’s fleet. Arianespace is scheduled to launch another Eutelsat satellite, Hot Bird 10, on 12th of February 2009.
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