100th launch of Europe’s Ariane 5 rocket sends a pair of telecom satellites into orbit

News Brief: The milestone 100th launch of Europe’s heavy-lift Ariane 5 rocket put two telecommunications satellites into geostationary transfer orbit today. The rocket rose from Arianespace’s launch site in Kourou, French Guiana, at 7:38 p.m. local time (3:38 p.m. PT), after a 45-minute delay. The dual payloads were the Boeing-built Horizons-3e satellite, which will provide telecom coverage for Intelsat and Japan’s SKY Perfect JSAT in the Asia-Pacific region; and Azerspace-2/Intelsat-38, built by Maxar/SSL to boost communications coverage in Europe, Asia and Africa for Azercosmos and Intelsat. In addition to the Ariane 5 milestone, today’s launch marked the 300th mission for the Arianespace family of rockets.