[SatNews] Arianespace has taken delivery of the Ariane 5 launcher for its next mission, which will orbit a dual-passenger payload in a liftoff scheduled on June 23rd. The heavy-lift Ariane 5 ECA was transferred from the Spaceport's Launcher Integration Building in French Guiana to the Final Assembly Building, where it will be fitted with the Arabsat-5A and COMS satellites.

This transfer marked Ariane 5's official handover from industrial prime contractor EADS Astrium, which was responsible for the vehicle's build-up, to Arianespace, which manages the payload integration, countdown preparations and launch. COMS is a South Korean multi-mission spacecraft that will perform telecommunications duties along with meteorology and ocean monitoring. It was developed by EADS Astrium and the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI). Arabsat-5A is designed to provide a large range of satellite communications services for Arabsat, one of the Arab world's leading satellite services providers. EADS Astrium and Thales Alenia Space produced Arabsat-5A as co-prime contractor.