Ariane 5 Launches ABS-2 and Athena Fidus Commercial Satellites

On February 6, at 21:30 UT, Arianespace carried out the 58th successful Ariane 5 launch in a row, orbiting two telecommunications satellites: ABS-2 for the operator ABS and Athena-Fidus for Telespazio, on behalf of the French and Italian space agencies.
First Ariane 5 launch in 2014 and 58th successful launch in a row: Arianespace continues to deliver the world’s most reliable launch service!

Today’s successful mission, the 58th in a row for Europe’s Ariane 5 launcher, confirms that Arianespace continues to set the standard for guaranteed access to space for all operators, whether national or international space agencies, private industry or governments.

Following the announcement of the orbital injection of the ABS-2 and Athena Fidus satellites, Arianespace Chairman and CEO Stéphane Israël said, “Today’s launch, the 58th success in a row for Ariane 5 and the 250th launch for our family of Ariane, Soyuz and Vega launchers, confirms the unrivaled reliability and availability of our launch systems. I would like to underscore our pride this evening in being able to meet the requirements of two customers that symbolize Arianespace’s dual mission: to offer highly reliable services to private operators from around the world, like ABS, and to guarantee independent access to space to European governments, today for the French and Italian ministries of defense and homeland security units working in partnership with CNES, ASI and Telespazio. I would like to thank ABS for entrusting us with their first launch contract, and also thank Telespazio, along with customers CNES and ASI, for their loyalty. In addition, I would like to express my gratitude to Airbus Defence & Space, as the industrial prime contractor for Ariane 5, to the rest of the European space industry and to the teams from CNES-CSG for today’s magnificent success.”