Success
Helios 1B
Earth Science
Arianespace(ASA)CommercialAriane 40
POorbit
The Helios program is Europe's military optical reconnaissance system consisting of both a space and a ground segment, which commenced service in 1995, jointly funded by the French, Italian and Spanish governments. The Helios I optical observation satellites, launched in July 1995 and December 1999 respectively, can acquire high resolution images of any point on the globe, with daily revisit capability. Helios-1B had suffered a breakdown of its power supply system in October 2004 and could no longer perform any work after operating for just under its 5-year nominal life expectancy.
Friday, December 3, 1999 at 4:22 PM
Mission details
Orbital Attempt
#4,357
ASA Mission
#120
Pad Launch
#95
Location Launch
#132
Designator
1999-064
Launch Window
NET
Dec 3, 1999, 4:22 PM
Schedule Changes
1 update
Ariane 40 Specs
The Ariane 4 was an expendable space launch system, developed by the Centre national d'études spatiales (CNES), the French space agency, for the European Space Agency (ESA). It was manufactured by ArianeGroup and marketed by Arianespace. Since its first flight on 15 June 1988 until the final flight on 15 February 2003, it attained 113 successful launches out of 116 total launches.
Length
55.6 m
Diameter
3.8 m
Launch Mass
245 t
Thrust
2,720 kN
LEO Capacity
4,600 kg
GTO Capacity
2,290 kg
Reusable
No
Maiden Flight
1990
Fastest Turnaround
2mo 17d
Total Launches
7
Successful
7
Failed
0
Consecutive Success
7
Maiden flight: Jan 22, 1990
Arianespace
Arianespace SA is a multinational company founded in 1980 as the world's first commercial launch service provider. It undertakes the production, operation, and marketing of the Ariane programme. Their vehicles launch exclusively from French Guiana in South America.
Founded
1980
Administrator
CEO: David Cavaillolès
Total Launches
326
Successful
311
Failed
15
Pending
29
Consecutive Success
14
Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana
The Guiana Space Centre is a European spaceport to the northwest of Kourou in French Guiana, a region of France in South America. Kourou is located at a latitude of 5°. In operation since 1968, it is a suitable location for a spaceport because of its equatorial location and open sea to the east.
Timezone
America/Cayenne
Local Launch Time
Dec 3, 1999, 1:22 PM
Total Launches
333
Total Landings
0
Coordinates
5.1690, -52.6903