Arianespace will orbit two telecommunications satellites for long-term customers: Intelsat 39, for the operator Intelsat; and the EDRS-C satellite, based on a public–private partnership between the European Space Agency (ESA) and Airbus.
Ariane 5 is a European heavy-lift launch vehicle that is part of the Ariane rocket family, an expendable launch system designed by the French government space agency Centre national d'études spatiales (CNES). It is used to deliver payloads into geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) or low Earth orbit (LEO).
The Ariane project was instrumental in helping to overcome the European space crisis,[clarification needed] partly because Germans and French worked more closely together to develop the Ariane.
Ariane 5 rockets are manufactured under the authority of the European Space Agency (ESA) and the French spatial agency Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales. Airbus Defence and Space is the prime contractor for the vehicles, leading a consortium of other European contractors.
Ariane 5 is operated and marketed by Arianespace as part of the Ariane programme. The rockets are launched by Arianespace from the Guiana Space Centre in French Guiana.
