French President Jacques Chirac on Friday expressed his "great satisfaction" over the successful launching of an Ariane 5 rocket and the placing into orbit of a French military communications satellite, DPA reported. The satellite, called the Syracuse 3A, "will enable France to continue to fulfil its major role in NATO", Chirac said in a statement. The Ariane 5 rocket blasted off late Friday from the European Space Agency's launch centre in Kourou, French Guiana, and placed two satellites in orbit, the Syracuse 3A and an American television, telephone and Internet satellite, the Galaxy 15. The spacecraft lifted off at 2232 GMT. The launch was previously delayed several times due to technical problems. The launching of the Syracuse 3A was made necessary by the saturation of present French military communications satellites. The 3,275-ton satellite possesses 10 times the capacity of all current satellites used by the French military, and is equipped to defend itself against electronic attacks. The successful launch brought the number of satellites placed in orbit in 25 years by the European launch company Arianespace to 226, which Arianespace head Jean-Yves Le Gall called "a world record by far".
