Watch the Launch

Watch the Launch

Additional Media

Flight VA255 – SES-17 / SYRACUSE 4A | Ariane 5 Launch | Arianespace

For its 11th launch of the year, the second using Ariane 5, Arianespace orbited two geostationary satellites: SES-17, a telecommunications satellite operated by SES, and SYRACUSE 4A, a telecommunicati...

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: Christophe Bruneau 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
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


Long March 2D
Success
3 hours ago
PIESAT-2 13-16
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.


Electron
Success
10 hours, 28 minutes ago
Owl By The Dozen (StriX Launch 12)
Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1B - Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1, Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand

Synthetic aperture radar satellite for Japanese Earth imaging company Synspective.


Soyuz 2.1b/Fregat-M
Success
1 day, 21 hours ago
Glonass-K1 No. 20 (?)
43/3 (43L) - Plesetsk Cosmodrome, Russian Federation

Note: Satellite serial number and Cosmos designation not confirmed. Glonass-K are the third generation of satellite design for GLONASS satellite n…


Kuaizhou 11
Success
2 days, 11 hours ago
SpaceTY-51 & 52
Launch Area 95A - Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

2 Earth observation radar satellites built by the Chinese satellite manufacturer SpaceTY.


Falcon 9
Success
2 days, 12 hours ago
USSF-259
Space Launch Complex 4E - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

USSF-259 is a classified mission for the United States Space Force. It is possibly a batch of classified LEO satellites based on SpaceX’s Starshield …


Long March 12
Success
2 days, 13 hours ago
SatNet LEO Group 25
Commercial LC-2 - Wenchang Space Launch Site, People's Republic of China

A batch of 9 Low Earth Orbit communication satellites for the Chinese state owned SatNet constellation operated by the China Satellite Network Group.…


Soyuz 2.1b
Success
3 days ago
Progress MS-35 (96P)
31/6 - Baikonur Cosmodrome, Republic of Kazakhstan

Progress resupply mission to the International Space Station.


Gravity-1
Success
3 days, 15 hours ago
SpaceSail Polar Group #16
Yellow Sea (launch location 5) - Haiyang Oriental Spaceport

9 Low Earth Orbit communication satellites with Ku, Q and V band payloads for the G60 constellation operated by Shanghai Spacesail Technologies with …


Zhuque-2E Block 2
Success
4 days, 7 hours ago
SpaceSail Polar Group #15
Launch Area 96A - Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

10 Low Earth Orbit communication satellites with Ku, Q and V band payloads for the G60 constellation operated by Shanghai Spacesail Technologies with…


Vega-C
Success
4 days, 12 hours ago
Sentinel-3C & FLEX
Ariane Launch Area 1 (ELV) - Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana

Sentinel-3C is the third satellite in the Sentinel-3 constellation, which provides high-accuracy optical, radar and altimetry data for marine and lan…