Kourou: Undaunted by the failure of flight 157, Araianespace has announced that it has secured the go-ahead for the launch of its second flight for New Skies Satellites. This followed the launch readiness review held at the Spaceport in French Guiana.

The review cleared Flight 156's Ariane 4 for the 17 December liftoff, and confirmed the readiness of its NSS-6 telecom satellite payload. Launch infrastructure at the Spaceport was declared ready for the mission, as were the downrange tracking stations.

This flight will be the second-to-last mission for the Ariane 4 launcher family. It is the 115th launch of an Ariane 4, and the 39th in the 44L version - which is equipped with four large liquid strap-on boosters for augmented thrust at liftoff and initial ascent.

The NSS-6 satellite was built by Lockheed Martin and carries a payload with high-performance Ku-band beams. To be positioned at 95 deg. East, the platform will reach markets from the Mediterranean Sea to Japan - covering Asia, Australia, Southern Africa and the Middle East.

Arianespace's previous launch for the Netherlands-based New Skies Satellites was last April, when Flight 150 placed the NSS-7 satellite into a highly accurate geostationary transfer orbit.