The
Hélios 1B was a French military photo-reconnaissance spacecraft. It was launched from the
Guiana Space Centre,
French Guiana on
3 December 1999 at 16:22:00
UTC. The spacecraft rode aboard an
Ariane 40 rocket which also carried the French military reconnaissance satellite
Clementine. Due to power supply failures, it had to be left to disintegrate in 2005.
It has been replaced by
Hélios 2A, launched on December 2004 on an
Ariane 5 rocket.
The name Hélios has also been used for other spacecraft - see
Helios (disambiguation).
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