Recorded mission
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Arianespace
Ariane 44LP | Astra 1B & Meteosat 5
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Recorded mission coverage
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Mission brief
The flight at a glance.
Astra 1B was the second of the Astra communications satellites launched and operated by SES (Société Européenne des Satellites). It was believed to have been launched in a faulty condition, and suffered a thruster failure early in its life, causing minor drift, meaning that it became permanently difficult to obtain a steady lock on the satellite. This was most notable on analogue transmissions where the picture would move from clear to carrying sparklies and back again.
Open the full mission →Published flight sequence
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Planned timings relative to the target. These steps do not indicate live progress.
A flight sequence has not been published for this mission.