Launch of Mighty Ariane 5 Rocket with Thor 7 & SICRAL 2 (VA-222)

The mighty heavy lifting rocket the Ariane 5 successfully launched tonight, April 26th 2015 at 20:00 UTC from Kourou in French Guiana. The nearly 55 meter tall rocket weighing 780 tonns at liftoff lofted the Norwegian Thor 7 satellite and joint Italian and French SICRAL 2 satellite into orbit.

Thor 7 will be positioned at 0.8 degrees West and will provide Ku and Ka-band capacity for the Nordic region. SICRAL 2 will be positioned at 37 degrees East and will provide military communications.