The Azerspace/Africasat-1 payload to be orbited on Ariane 5's 2013 year-opening flight is to provide C- and Ku-band communications services to Azerbaijan, Central Asia, Europe and Africa from an orbital location at 46 deg. East Longitude. It was built by Orbital Sciences Corporation based on Orbital's Star-2 platform. The satellite was contracted by the Republic of Azerbaijan's Ministry of Communications and Information Technologies—which is the sole shareholder in the country's national satellite operator, Azercosmos.

Under a contract with The Ministry of Communications and Information Technologies of the Republic of Azerbaijan (the Ministry), Orbital is designing and building the Azerspace/Africasat-1a commercial communications satellite.

Based on Orbital’s flight-proven GEOStar-2™ platform, the hybrid C- and Ku-band satellite will generate approximately five kilowatts of payload power and carry 36 active transponders. Azerspace/Africasat-1a will provide communications services to Azerbaijan, Central Asia, Europe, and Africa from an orbital location at 46 degrees East Longitude through an arrangement between the Ministry and Measat of Malaysia, which owns the rights to the orbital slot.

Orbital will be responsible for providing the satellite and ground system. Upon completion of in-orbit testing, operational control of the satellite will be handed over to the Ministry, which will continue to operate the spacecraft from its control center in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Joining Azerspace/Africasat-1 on next February's mission is Amazonas 3, which will be utilized by Spanish satellite communication operator HISPASAT and its Brazilian subsidiary, HISPAMAR Satellites. Built by Space Systems/Loral using an LS 1300 platform, it will be positioned at the 61 deg. West orbital slot, providing relay capacity through 52 simultaneous transponders: 33 in Ku-band and 19 C-band, along with nine Ka-band spot beams.

Flight VA212 will maintain Arianespace's sustained heavy-lift mission cadence with Ariane 5, which was demonstrated again during 2012. Six Ariane 5 missions have been performed so far this year from the Spaceport, with another planned for December 19. In other activity at the Spaceport in 2012, two medium-lift Soyuz flights were conducted by Arianespace, along with the light-lift Vega's maiden launch.’

Adding to the year's activity was a Soyuz mission from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan that was launched by Arianespace's Starsem affiliate.