Flight VA234 - Ariane 5's year-ending success

Arianespace wrapped up another year of on-target launches with a dual-passenger mission today that orbited telecommunications satellites for Brazil and Japan with both of these spacecraft produced by a U.S. satellite manufacturer.

The seventh flight of Arianespaces Ariane 5 heavy-lift vehicle in 2016 and the companys 11th overall this year with its launcher family lofted the Star One D1 relay platform, to be operated by Brazils Embratel Star One; along with JCSAT-15 for utilization by Japanese operator SKY Perfect JSAT Corp.

With Star One D1, Arianespace has launched all Embratel Star One satellites since 1985 amounting to 11 birds, and its been only a year since we launched Embratels Star One C4, said Arianespace Chairman and CEO Stéphane Israël. Another special partner, SKY Perfect JSAT, entrusted its 19th satellite to Arianespace since our launch of the JCSAT-1 in 1989. We have one more SKY Perfect JSAT satellite in our backlog, and we are looking for further opportunities!