Astérix (satellite)
Replica of Astérix at Musée de l'Air et de l'Espace, Paris Le Bourget
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| Mission type | Technology |
|---|---|
| Operator | CNES |
| Harvard designation | 1965-096A |
| SATCAT № | 1778 |
| Mission duration | 111 days |
| Spacecraft properties | |
| Launch mass | 42.0 kilograms (92.6 lb) |
| Start of mission | |
| Launch date | 26 November 1965, 09:52 UTC |
| Rocket | Diamant A |
| Launch site | Hammaguir Brigitte |
| End of mission | |
| Last contact | 28 November 1965 |
| Orbital parameters | |
| Reference system | Geocentric |
| Regime | Low Earth |
| Semi-major axis | 7,468.0 kilometres (4,640.4 mi) |
| Eccentricity | 0.08023 |
| Perigee | 527 kilometres (327 mi) |
| Apogee | 1,697 kilometres (1,054 mi) |
| Inclination | 34.30 degrees |
| Period | 107.5 minutes |
| Epoch | 1965 |
Astérix, the first French satellite, was launched on November 26, 1965 by a Diamant A rocket from Hammaguir, Algeria. With Astérix, France became the sixth country to have an artificial satellite in orbit after: USSR (Sputnik 1, 1957), the United States (Explorer 1, 1958), the United Kingdom (Ariel 1, 1962), Canada (Alouette 1, 1962) and Italy (San Marco 1, 1964), and the third to launch a satellite on its own (the UK, Canada and Italy's satellites were launched on American rockets). The satellite was originally designated A-1, as the French Army's first satellite, but later renamed after the popular French comics character Astérix. Due to the relatively high altitude of its orbit, it is not expected to re-enter Earth's atmosphere for several centuries.
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