The first operational flight of the Ariane 4 family, carrying the UK Ministry of Defence's Skynet 4B military communications satellite alongside SES's Astra 1A, which went on to launch Europe's first direct-to-home satellite television service.
- Outcome
- Success
- Orbit
- Direct-GEO
- Geostationary orbit
- Payload to orbit
- 3.4 T
- Flight
- 2nd
- of 26 Ariane 44LP flights
- Date and time
- 11 December 1988, 00:33 UTC
- Rocket
- Ariane 44LP
- Builder
- Aérospatiale
- Launch site
- Ariane Launch Area 2, Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana
- Payload
- Communications
- International designator
- 1988-109
- Launches in 1988
- 114th of 121
See it in orbit
Space Atlas shows the satellites and rocket stages from this launch in 3D.
Object pages on Space Atlas: Astra 1A
View satellites in Space Atlas