Arianespace completed its first launch of 2002 with the flight from Kourou of an Ariane 42L booster in late January carrying India's 2,750kg (6,100lb) Insat 3C communications satellite. Flight F147 was launched after the ignition sequence was initially aborted.
The next mission, V148, is due on 20 February, with an Ariane 44L carrying Intelsat 904. Arianespace says the Ariane 5's return to flight is also on schedule carrying the European Space Agency's Envisat polar platform in late February. Ariane 5 has been grounded since July when it failed to put two satellites into the correct orbit.
Meanwhile, the Boeing-led Sea Launch venture plans to make five commercial launches this year from the Odyssey platform in the equatorial Pacific Ocean, with the first due for the second quarter. The company says it has 17 launch orders and plans to make six to seven launches next year.
The first Lockheed Martin Atlas IIIB booster with a dual-engine Centaur stage will be launched by International Launch Services from Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral on 21 February, carrying the Echostar VII communications satellite. The Atlas IIIB can carry 4,500kg to geostationary transfer orbit. The launch will be only the second by an Atlas III.
The launch of a US Air Force Defense Meteorological Space Program satellite by a Titan ll booster has been delayed to 13 February at the earliest due to a vacuum leak on a valve during propellant loading. The troubled launch was originally set for late 2000.Source: Flight International
