Ariane rocket puts two satellites into orbit

KOUROU, French Guiana (Reuters) - A heavy-lift Ariane-5 rocket blasted off from French Guiana on Friday putting into orbit two telecommunications satellites, space officials said.

The rocket was launched from Europe's space base in Kourou, on the northeast coast of South America, at 7.29 p.m. (2229

GMT).

High altitude winds meant the first launch attempt was scrapped on Thursday.

Billed by the Arianespace company as a cost effective launcher for large satellites, the rocket is capable of launching payloads of up to 10 metric tons. This adds more than three tons of capacity compared with the previous generation Ariane-5 in service since the mid-1990s.

Arianespace is 28 percent owned by European aerospace giant

EADS.

Twenty-seven minutes after launch, the rocket released into a preliminary orbit Astra 1L, a 4.5 metric ton satellite designed to provide direct-to-home broadcasting throughout Europe.

Martin Halliwell, SES Astra's satellite mission director, said: "This satellite's main job is to consolidate our fleet ... it's an extremely important position for us, it allows us to transmit direct-to-home television to over 107 million homes."

Astra 1L, owned by Luxembourg-based SES Astra a division of SES Global, was built in the United States by Lockheed Martin Space Systems.

Five minutes later Galaxy 17, designed to provide telecommunications throughout the United States for Washington-based operator Intelsat separated from the rocket.

"Galaxy 17 will be located in the most coveted orbital neighborhood over the United States," Intelsat Vice President Kenneth Lee said.

Galaxy 17 weighed 4.1 metric tons and was built by Thales Alenia Space a joint venture company owned by France's Alcatel-Lucent and Finmeccanica.

Arianespace President Jean-Yves Le Gall said Friday's launch placed the largest mass ever for an Ariane rocket.

"Flight after flight we are able to place more and more kilos (in orbit). We can hope to increase it by several hundred more kilos, but we are approaching our maximum capacity," Le Gall said.

The first launch of the Ariane-5 heavy-lift rocket in December 2002 ended in failure when it exploded in flight due to a problem in its main engine. Since then nine of the rockets have been successfully put into orbit.

(Additional reporting by Alexander Miles in Paris)