Ariane carries INSAT-3E into space

The European Ariane rocket took off with India's latest communication satellite, INSAT-3E, from Kourou spaceport, French Guyana, early Sunday.

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The Ariane 5G launch vehicle also carried two other spacecraft -- SMART-1, Europe's first lunar probe, and the Eutelsat e-BIRD broadband services satellite.

Soon after it went into orbit, the Master Control Facility at Hassan, Karnataka, acquired the first signals from the satellite, Indian Space Research Organisation sources in Bangalore said.

The INSAT-3E was scheduled for launch in August, but a quality alert from Japanese firm Mitsubishi, which supplied some components, forced ISRO to retest certain equipment.

More reports from Karnataka