Eutelsat 65 West A was successfully launched this morning by an Ariane rocket.
Lifting off exactly on time from the ELA-3 launch zone at Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, Ariane 5 deployed its passenger at the conclusion of a 27-minute flight sequence.
Eutelsat 65 West A is the 525th satellite overall to be launched by Arianespace, as well as its being the 31st orbited by the company on behalf of Paris-based Eutelsat Communications.
Both were points of emphasis during post-launch comments by Arianespace chairman and CEO Stéphane Israël, who spoke via satellite from National Harbor, Maryland, where he is participating in the on-going Satellite 2016 conference and exhibition.
“We are delighted to have organized this launch for Eutelsat, which has been our steadfast partner since our companies both started in the early 1980s,” he said.
“I therefore wish to express my deepest gratitude to Eutelsat for its trust in Arianespace.”
“We fully enjoyed this,” said Rodolphe Belmer, who earlier in the month succeeded Michel de Rosen as Eutelsat’s CEO.
“It was for me the first launch as CEO of Eutelsat, so as you could imagine, it was a very intense moment – and a great success!”
