Europe's Ariane 5 launches satellites for DirecTV, India

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- European heavy lift launcher Ariane 5 rocketed from the edge of the Amazon Rainforest on Saturday and toward Earth orbit to deliver a pair of advanced telecommunications satellites.

The DirecTV 14 spacecraft was built for the broadcast television company, and will provide expanded high definition and ultra-HD services for customers across America's fifty United States and Puerto Rico.

The second payload deployed by Ariane is GSAT-16, built by the Indian Space Research Organization located in southern India. GSAT rode into space at the bottom of the two satellite stack and was deployed last. "From its orbital position at 55° East, its coverage zone includes the entire Indian sub-continent," ISRO confirmed today.

Inclement weather and high upper level winds over the French Guiana Spaceport scrubbed two separate launch attempts by Arianespace on Thursday and Friday. The commercial launch organization in partnership with the European Space Agency waited until Saturday morning to announce a third attempt.

As the Sun neared the scattered cloud laden western horizon, the Ariane 5 core main engine ignited as countdown clock's in launch control reached zero. Seven seconds later, the launcher's twin solid fueled boosters ignited producing 2.92 million pounds of thrust.