DirecTV in the News

DirecTV-4S Satellite in Orbit

KOUROU, French Guiana, Nov 27 (Reuters) - Western Europe's 146th Ariane rocket placed into orbit a communications satellite for U.S-based operator DirecTV Inc. after a textbook launch from equatorial French Guiana late on Monday.

The Ariane 44LP rocket equipped with two solid and two liquid strap-on boosters blasted off at 9:35 p.m. (0035 GMT Tuesday) from the European Space Agency (ESA) launch centre in Kourou, French Guiana on the northeast coast of South America.

The rocket lit up a clear equatorial night sky and was visible from the ground for more than three minutes.

Twenty-one minutes after lift-off, space officials said the DirecTV-4S satellite separated from the rocket.

DirecTV-4S weighed 4.3 metric tonnes (9,500 lbs) at launch and was a Boeing 601 series satellite built in California by Boeing Space Systems (BSS).

The satellite is designed to provide the DirecTV network with more than 300 television channels for service throughout the continental United States, Alaska and Hawaii.

Specialists estimated the cost of the DirecTV-4S satellite, launch and insurance at over $200 million.

Arianespace, the French company that launches and markets Ariane rockets, said it had firm orders to launch 40 satellites and nine automated transfer vehicles for the International Space Station. The launch contracts are worth $4.8 billion.