A satellite to provide telephony and TV service to Vietnam's rural communities has been loaded aboard a rocket and is ready to lift off from French Guiana, an Associated Press report said.
Arianespace said the Vietnamese satellite is one of two the Ariane 5 rocket is to carry when it blasts off. The second satellite is from Brazil and is to provide communications, multimedia and broadband services for South America.
Lockheed Martin Commercial Space Systems of Newton, Pennsylvania, built the VINASAT-1 satellite for the Vietnam Post and Telecommunications Corporation, Arianespace said. The goal is to help the south eastern Asia nation remove its dependence on ground communications networks.
The mission will be 38th launch of an Ariane 5 from French Guiana, located on the north east shoulder of South America.