On 28 August at 19:45h local time (22:45h GMT), 2002, a European Ariane-5 launcher lifted off from the Guiana Space Centre, Europe's spaceport at Kourou, French Guiana. The cylinder-shaped MSG 1 satellite will provide improved global weather data for Europe as a follow-on to the Meteosat spacecraft series, which were launched by Ariane beginning in 1977. MSG 1 is a spin-stabilised platform built by Alcatel Space Industries for a cooperative program of the European Space Agency and EUMETSAT (European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites).
