Delays over for Ariane-4

Press, 8 March 1989, Page 8

Delays over for Ariane-4

NZPA-Reuter Paris Western Europe’s Ariane-4 rocket blasted off from its South American launch pad yesterday on a muchdelayed mission to put a Japanese telecommunications satellite and European weather monitor into orbit. The rocket, the eleventh consecutive successful launch for Arianespace, illuminated the sky for miles around as it left the launch pad at Kourou in French • Guiana. It was carrying a Western European meteorological satellite and Japan’s first commercial telecommunications satellite, due to be finally placed into geostationary orbit after a six-day delay caused by technical problems and a strike by local staff. The Ariane-4, one of a new generation of European space rockets, ended its mission 30 minutes later when it ejected the two satellites: Space officials applauded and shook hands as the weather satellite MOP 1, estimated to have cost SUS4S million ($75 million), and the Japanese JCSAT 1, worth a reported SUS7S million, disengaged. Ariane-4 was originally due to take off last Tuesday but was postponed initially because of a strike by about 250 technicians at the Kourou space base who demanded pay parity with foreign workers. Although the strike was called off after talks with management, the launch was called off again just hours before take-off on Saturday when technicians noticed two disconnected plugs between the rocket and its tower. «