Ariane-5 launch set for Wednesday after strike ended

An Ariane-5 rocket launch that was postponed because of a strike at the Kourou space centre in French Guiana is to go ahead on Wednesday after the dispute was resolved, officials said.

The National Centre for Space Studies (CNES) said that the deal to end the strike "includes an immediate resumption of work by Telespazio."

The strike launched by Telezpazio, a business at the base specialised in radars, delayed Tuesday's launch that would have put two telecommunications satellites into orbit.

"Without the radar, we can't follow the launch all along its trajectory," said Joel Barre, head of the Guianese Space Centre.

A new launch window has now been set for Wednesday between 2138 GMT and 2302 GMT.

The strike was called after unions demanded a pay rise and a bonus for working on Sundays.

The launch is to be Arianespace's fifth this year, putting two television satellites into orbit: Arabsat 5C covering the Middle East and North Africa and SES-2 covering North America and the Caribbean.

(c) 2011 AFP