Atlantic Bird Moving Into Orbital Position (Sept. 2)
Atlantic Bird 1, the commercial telecommunications satellite built by prime contractor Alenia Spazio, was successfully launched on Wednesday August 28th at 7.45 p.m. local time (00.45 August 29th in Italy).
Although there was a delay of 1 day because of a computer problem with the Ariane 5 rocket, the rescheduled launch went perfectly and Atlantic Bird was released 28 minutes into the flight. The satellite is now moving towards its nominal orbital position at 12.5 degrees West over the Atlantic Ocean and the first firing of the Apogee Motor is expected today, August 30.
-ends- Atlantic Bird 1 Successfully Launched And Approaching Orbital Position
