Flight 165 - December 3, 2004

Helios IIA Launch postponement

The liftoff of Flight 165 has been postponed to enable the replacement of a
part on the mission's Ariane 5 Generic launcher.

This decision was taken after an anomaly appeared during ground tests
concerning equipment similar to that used for Flight 165. The replacement
operation will take several days, and a new launch date will be announced
shortly.

Flight 165 will carry the Helios IIA military reconnaissance platform as its
primary payload, along with six auxiliary small satellites. Helios IIA is a
second-generation military observation satellite produced in a French-led
program that also involves Belgium and Spain.

The six small-sats to be carried as auxiliary payloads on the launch are
four Essaim spacecraft for the French defense procurement agency (DGA), the
Parasol payload from France's CNES space agency for studies of the Earth's
climate, and the Spanish Nanosat micro-satellite demonstrator.


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Jacques :-)

www.spacepatches.info