2 Satellites Put in Orbit by European Ariane-3 Rocket

A European Ariane-3 rocket put two telecommunications satellites into orbit Friday after a perfect launch, nine days after the first launch attempt had to be abandoned just before lift-off, officials here said.

The U.S. GSTAR 2 satellite owned by GTE Spacenet Corp. was released by the rocket at an altitude of nearly 200 miles just over 18 minutes after the launch, which took place at mid-afternoon.

The second satellite, the Brasilsat S2 owned by Brazil’s Embratel group, was released just moments later at an altitude of nearly 340 miles.

Both were put into elliptical geostationary orbits prior to maneuvering themselves into circular orbits over the weekend.

GSTAR 2 was due to provide a network of enhanced domestic television and telecommunications links for the United States, while Brasilsat S2 was designed to improve Brazilian telecommunications.

It was the second attempt to put the two telecommunications satellites into orbit. On March 19, ground computers on the new pad halted the launch just five seconds before liftoff as they detected a fault in the fueling arms.