PARIS — Europe’s Ariane 5 heavy-lift rocket on June 28 successfully placed two telecommunications satellites into geostationary-transfer orbit in the rocket’s 80th consecutive success since 2003.
More importantly, the launch — the fourth Ariane 5 in 2017 and the seventh mission for launch-service provider Arianespace — puts Arianespace back on its originally planned schedule for 12 launch campaigns in 2017.
That schedule was placed into serious doubt after a 44-day general strike in French Guiana shut down the Guiana Space Center, located on the northeast coast . . .
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