UPDATE 1-Ariane rocket launches satellites
(Adds details, quotes)
By Laurent Marot
KOUROU, French Guiana, April 18 (Reuters) - A heavy-lift Ariane-5 rocket blasted off from French Guiana on Friday putting into orbit telecommunications satellites for Brazil and Vietnam, space officials said.
The rocket launched from Europe's space base in Kourou, on the northeast coast of South America, at 7:17 p.m. (2217 GMT).
Twenty-six minutes after launch, the rocket released into a preliminary orbit Star One C2, a telecommunications satellite for Brazil's telecoms operator Embratel (EBTP4.SA).
Star One C2, the second in the Star One satellite series, weighed 4.1 tonnes (9,000 pounds) at launch and was built by the Franco-Italian consortium Thales Alenia Space (TCFP.PA) (SIFI.MI).
It is designed to operate for 15 years providing direct-to-home television broadcasting, high speed internet and data transmissions throughout South America, Mexico and Florida.
"C2's orbital slot has more than 20 million TV dishes," said Lincoln Oliveira, Star One's chief technical officer.
"We will be able to cover for the first time Mexico, San Francisco, Los Angeles in addition to Florida and South America. This is a demonstration of the vision of Embratel and its controller TELMEX in terms of empowering Star One to be the leading satellite operator in Latin America."
Five minutes after Star One's separation, the rocket released VINASAT-1, Vietnam's first telecommunications satellite, which is designed to improve Vietnam's communications infrastructure.
VINASAT was built by U.S. satellite manufacturer Lockheed Martin Commercial Space Systems (LMT.N) in a turnkey contract for Vietnam's Post & Telecommunications Group (VNPT).
VNPT's director, Long Tran Pham, told Reuters: "More than 70 percent of our country consists of forests and mountains so it is very important to have satellites to deliver telecommunications to populations living in these zones.
"People already receive television by other satellites that we lease, but now we have our own satellite."
Vietnam's Information & Communications Minister Doan Hop Le said the success of the satellite represented for Vietnam "great technical and socio-economic significance."
Paris-based Arianespace said Friday's launch was the 24th consecutive success of the Ariane-5 satellite series.
Ariane-5 got off to a shaky start when its first launch exploded seconds after lift-off in 1996. The company, which is 30 percent owned by European aerospace giant EADS (EAD.PA), suffered financial woes earlier in the decade.
It has returned to profit largely with an order book filled with contracts to launch satellites for the new generation of high definition television. (Additional reporting by Alexander Miles)
