Watch the Launch

Additional Media

Flight Arianespace VA255 – SES-17 / SYRACUSE 4A

Arianespace’s next Ariane 5 launch from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, is scheduled on Friday, October 22, 2021, during a launch window from 10:01 p.m....

Ariane Flight VA255

Arianespace’s eleventh launch of 2021 with the second Ariane 5 of the year will place its satellite passengers into geostationary transfer orbit. The launcher will be carrying a total payload of approximately 11,210 kg. The launch will be performed in Kourou, French Guiana.

SES-17 & Syracuse 4A

Circle Image

Overview

Destination: Geostationary Transfer Orbit
Mission: Communications

Geostationary Transfer Orbit Ariane Launch Area 3 Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana

SES-17 is a Ka-band high-throughput geostationary communications satellite built by Thales Alenia Space designed to provide mobile internet services to airline passengers over the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean. Syracuse 4A is a French military communications satellite built by Thales Alenia Space.

Updates

SwGustav • Oct. 24, 2021, 3:07 a.m.

Launch success confirmed


SwGustav • Oct. 24, 2021, 2:10 a.m.

Liftoff


Cosmic_Penguin • Oct. 23, 2021, 6:32 a.m.

New launch time.


SwGustav • Oct. 22, 2021, 11:28 a.m.

Delayed due to additional checks on the ground support equipment


Nosu • Oct. 11, 2021, 7:18 p.m.

Launch date & time announced by the Guiana Space Centre.


Ariane 5 ECA+

Family:
Configuration: ECA+

Ariane 5 ECA+ is a variant of the Ariane 5 heavy-lift vehicle, with a taller ECA-D upper stage.

Specifications
  • Max Stage
    2
  • Length
    57.7 m
  • Diameter
    5.4 m
  • Fairing Diameter
    5.4 m
  • Launch Mass
    780.0 T
  • Thrust
    11400.0 kN
Family
  • Name
    Ariane 5 ECA+
  • Family
  • Variant
    ECA+
  • Alias
  • Full Name
    Ariane 5 ECA+
Payload Capacity
  • Launch Cost
  • Low Earth Orbit
  • Geostationary Transfer Orbit
    10200.0 kg
  • Direct Geostationary
  • Sun-Synchronous Capacity

ArianeGroup

ArianeGroup

(AG)

CEO: André-Hubert Roussel Founded: 2015 Successes: 0 Failures: 0 Pending: 0

Agency Type:

ArianeGroup (formerly Airbus Safran Launchers) is an aerospace company based in France. A joint venture between Airbus and Safran, the company was founded in 2015 and is headquartered in Issy-les-Moulineaux. It consists of three core arms: aerospace, defence and security.

INFO WIKI

Related News

SpaceNews

SES-17 takes flight with eyes on soaring commercial aviation market

Arianespace has successfully launched the heaviest satellite SES has ever ordered, marking a cornerstone for a multi-orbit network that is seeing surging demand from commercial aviation customers.

Spaceflight Now

Arianespace breaks payload mass record on final Ariane 5 launch before Webb

A European Ariane 5 rocket fired into space Saturday night from French Guiana with a commercial broadband satellite for SES and a French military telecom craft, setting a new payload mass record for geostationary transfer orbit on the fina…

Spaceflight Now

Under watchful eye of NASA, teams prep for final Ariane 5 flight before Webb

Arianespace is counting down to the blastoff of an Ariane 5 rocket Saturday night from French Guiana, the final flight of Europe’s workhorse launcher before NASA and the European Space Agency entrust it to launch the $10 billion James Webb…

NASA Spaceflight

Ariane 5 launches civilian, military satellites; mission to clear way for James Webb launch

In an important prelude to the James Webb Space Telescope launch, planned for no earlier than mid-December, the Ariane 5 rocket will make its second flight of 2021 and its 111th mission overall with the VA255 flight to take two communicati…

Spaceflight Now

Ariane 5 launch delayed for more ground systems checks

Arianespace delayed the launch from French Guiana of a European Ariane 5 rocket with two geostationary communications satellites Friday to conduct more checks of ground support equipment at the spaceport. The mission, set to loft payloads …

Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana

Ariane Launch Area 3


Falcon 9
Success
2 days, 2 hours ago
Starlink Group 12-2
Launch Complex 39A - Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA

A batch of 21 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Electron
Success
3 days, 17 hours ago
StriX Launch 6
Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1B - Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1, Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand

Synthetic aperture radar satellites for Japanese Earth imaging company Synspective.


Falcon 9
Success
3 days, 20 hours ago
Bandwagon 2 (Dedicated Mid-Inclination Rideshare)
Space Launch Complex 4E - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

Dedicated rideshare flight to a mid-inclination orbit with dozens of small microsatellites and nanosatellites for commercial and government customers…


Long March 3
Success
4 days, 16 hours ago
TJSW-12
Launch Complex 2 (LC-2) - Xichang Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

Chinese classified satellite claimed to be for communication technology test purposes. Actual mission not known.


Ceres-1S
Success
5 days, 21 hours ago
Tianqi 33-36
Oriental Spaceport mobile launch ship - Sea Launch

4 small satellites for LEO Internet of Things (IoT) communication purposes.


KAIROS
Failure
1 week ago
Flight 2
Space One Launch Pad - Spaceport Kii, Japan

Second flight of the KAIROS launch vehicle. 5 satellites for testing various technologies will be on board: * TATARA-1 * PARUS-T1A * SC-Sat1…


Falcon 9
Success
1 week ago
O3b mPower 7 & 8
Launch Complex 39A - Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA

Seventh and eighth of a constellation of eleven high-throughput communications satellites in Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) built by Boeing and operated by…


Falcon 9
Success
1 week ago
NROL-149
Space Launch Complex 4E - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

Sixth batch of satellites for a reconnaissance satellite constellation built by SpaceX and Northrop Grumman for the National Reconnaissance Office to…


Falcon 9
Success
1 week, 1 day ago
GPS III SV07 (RRT-1)
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

GPS-III (Global Positioning System) is the first evolution stage of the third generation of the GPS satellites. It consists of the first ten (known a…


Long March 2D
Success
1 week, 1 day ago
PIESAT-2 09-12
Launch Complex 9 - Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

4 X-band synthetic-aperture radar Earth observation satellites for the Chinese Earth observation satellite company PIESAT.