ARIANESPACE FLIGHT 141 – June 5, 2001 – It’s a “go” for launch!

Arianespace has begun final preparations for Flight 141 following today’s
launch readiness review, which authorized the countdown procedure to begin.

The readiness review, held at the Spaceport, brought together
representatives from the payload, launch vehicle, and Guiana Space Center
launch facility to confirm that all is a “go” for the early morning June 8
liftoff.

Flight 141 will use an Ariane 44L version of the Ariane 4 family. It is
equipped with four large liquid strap-on boosters to provide augmented
thrust during liftoff and initial ascent (photo at right). The launch
vehicle’s payload lift performance requirement for the mission is 4,768 kg.
(10,489 lb.) – of which 4,753 kg. (10,410 lb.) represents the mass of the
Intelsat 901 spacecraft to be injected into geostationary transfer orbit.

Launch of the Ariane 4 is scheduled on the morning of June 8, 2001 as soon
as possible within the one-hour launch window, which opens at 3:44 a.m.
local Kourou time.

This will be the 104th launch of an Ariane 4, and the 32nd in the 44L
configuration.