On 1 July 2009, at 2.52 p.m. (Kourou time), 6.52 p.m. (UK time), another Ariane 5 developed and built by Astrium was successfully launched from Kourou, French Guiana, with the world’s largest commercial telecommunications satellite on board, TerreStar-1.

Astrium CEO François Auque congratulated the Astrium teams based in French Guiana, in France and in Germany, and thanked them “for this latest success, which is further proof of the Ariane 5 ECA’s excellent design. Astrium has pulled off another major feat by placing into orbit the largest commercial telecommunications satellite ever launched”.

Source: EADS