Monday, December 18, 2017

The Ariane 5 Rocket in French Guiana

Guyane L'Espace

Decollage du lanceur Ariane 5 GS, vol 193, le 18 décembre 2009 depuis le Centre spatial guyanais.  Le lanceur a place en orbite la satellite militaire Helios 2B.

Loose Translation:

Guiana Space
Liftoff of the Ariane 5 GS launcher, vol 193, 18 December 2009 from the Guiana Space Center. The launcher placed in orbit military satellite Helios 2B.

CNES / ESA / Arianespace / Photo Service Optique Video CSG, 2009

This postcard is a gift card that was sent to me with three Italy stamps in 2015.    :D

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The Guiana Space Centre or, more commonly, Centre spatial guyanais (CSG) is a French and European spaceport near Kourou in French Guiana. Operational since 1968, it is particularly suitable as a location for a spaceport as it fulfills the two major geographical requirements of such a site:

-- it is quite close to the equator, so that the spinning earth can impart some extra velocity to the rockets for free when launched eastward, and
-- it has uninhabited territory (in this case, open sea) to the east, so that lower stages of rockets and debris from launch failures cannot fall on human habitations.

The European Space Agency (ESA), the French space agency CNES (National Centre for Space Studies), and the commercial Arianespace company conduct launches from Kourou.  Also, this is the spaceport used by the ESA to send supplies to the International Space Station.


If you would like to see more amazing postcards about Space,  Check out my blog ...
http://MyFavoriteSpacePostcards.blogspot.com

Italy (Italia) stamp 2013
Flying Mail Envelope, 0,70
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and two of these stamps ... 
Italy (Italia) stamp 2014
Flying Mail Envelope, 0,80

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