Ariane-5 Mission V-130 Update 6 July 2000
Mission Update:
Flight 130
July 6: Ariane 5 Arrives at the Final Assembly Building
Flight 130’s nearly-complete Ariane 5 saw daylight for the first time this morning when it was transferred to the Final Assembly Building at Europe’s Spaceport.
Rolling on its mobile launch table, the Ariane 5 emerged at 9:30 a.m. from the Launcher Integration Building – where the heavy-lift vehicle has undergone its assembly since May 29.
Leaving the integration building under cloudy skies, the launcher and its "train" of ground support equipment moved slowly along a dual-track rail system under the power of a tug truck.
"The transfer was right on schedule, and we continue to target an on-time launch for July 25," Philippe Rolland, Arianespace’s mission director for Flight 130, said.
With Ariane 5 now in the Final Assembly Building, Flight 130’s launch campaign enters its last phase.
The mission’s SES Astra 2B satellite was mounted on its payload adapter today in the Spaceport’s S3B satellite preparation facility, and it will be transported tomorrow to the Final Assembly Building’s encapsulation hall.
Flight 130’s GE-7 payload from GE Americom will start its final pre-launch preparations in the S3A facility on July 10.
When the two satellites are installed on Ariane 5, GE-7 will be ride in the lower payload position – housed inside the Sylda 5 multiple deployment unit. Astra 2B is to be installed atop the Sylda 5, and will be protected during the initial ascent phase by the Ariane 5’s payload fairing.
Flight 130 is Arianespace’s third commercial launch of an Ariane 5. The combined liftoff mass of the two satellite payloads for this mission is approximately 5,255 kg.
The flight is Arianespace’s first launch since April – the result of a forced stand-down created by delivery delays of customer payloads.
Arianespace hopes to conduct six or seven more missions before year-end, using its fast-reaction capability to make up for the three-month "quiet" period between Flight 129 and Flight 130.
