Preparations for Arianespace's second mission of 2008 moved into their final phase when the first of its two satellite payloads was installed atop the heavy-lift Ariane 5 ECA launcher at Europe's Spaceport today.
VINASAT-1 was positioned on Ariane 5's cryogenic core stage during integration activity inside the Final Assembly Building (see photo at right). This Lockheed Martin-built spacecraft is Vietnam's initial telecommunications satellite, and it will ride as the lower passenger in Ariane 5's dual-payload "stack" during the April 18 launch.
Today's activity clears the way for installation of the flight's upper passenger – the Star One C2 satellite for Brazilian operator Star One. The spacecraft was prepared earlier this week for launch, having been mated with Ariane 5's SLYDA dispenser system and encapsulated inside the launcher's payload fairing.
As the final activity is completed on the April 18 mission's Ariane 5, another heavy-lift vehicle continues to take shape inside the Spaceport's Launcher Integration Building for the next dual-satellite flight. The designed-in flexibility at Europe's Spaceport enables such parallel processing of two Ariane 5s, allowing Arianespace to meet its customers' launch timing requirements.
Arianespace is planning a total of seven Ariane 5 flights in 2008 – the busiest year of activity for the workhorse launcher since its commercial introduction in 1999. The first mission of this year was the March 9 flight of an Ariane 5 ES vehicle, which orbited Europe's Automated Transfer Vehicle resupply spacecraft for its subsequent docking with the International Space Station.

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