An Ariane 5 Successfully Launches the Hispasat 1E and KOREASAT 6 Satellites

This afternoon at 4:27 p.m. EST (21:27 GMT) Arianespace successfully launched the Hispasat 1E and KOREASAT 6 telecommunication satellites aboard an Ariane 5 ECA rocket from the Kourou spaceport in French Guiana.

KOREASAT 6 is a commercial telecommunications satellite of the KT Corporation of the Republic of Korea and was built by Orbital Sciences Corporation.

Hispasat 1E is a telecommunications satellite designed to operate for at least 15 years and has a state-of-the-art Ku-band which will be located at 30 degrees West, further expanding HISPASAT’s coverage in Europe, the Americas, and North Africa.

After the launch Hispasat 1E will be deployed from its upper position in the launcher’s payload stack at 27 minutes into the flight, followed by KOREASAT 6’s separation approximately seven minutes later.

This is the sixth and final flight of the year for Arianespace’s heavy-lift rocket.