Ariane 5 rockets puts Africa's first satellite into space

An Ariane 5 rocket blasted off here on Friday to put into orbit the first African telecommunications satellite as well as another made by a US-Japanese joint venture, Arianespace said. The rocket, the 36th launch of an Ariane 5 and the sixth this year, lifted off at 2142 GMT and successfully placed the satellites for the pan-African operator RascomStar-QAF and US-Japanese Horizons 2 Satellite LLC. More

(Source: AFP - Dec 22)