From: utzoo!decvax!harpo!eagle!karn Newsgroups: net.space Title: Ariane Launch Failure Diagnosed Article-I.D.: eagle.510 Posted: Sun Sep 12 01:19:24 1982 Received: Sun Sep 12 03:05:11 1982 ESA has announced that it has determined the cause of the Ariane launch failure Thursday night. The problem was the third stage fuel pump. 4 minutes and 23 seconds into the third stage burn, the pump slowed, and the engines lost power within three seconds and then stopped. ESA says it will delay the next launch, originally scheduled for November 23, will be delayed "weeks or months" so that the problem can be fixed. >From the available information, I estimate the final "orbit" of the launcher had an apogee of 176 km and a "perigee" of -3,623 km. Not exactly geostationary. Phil Karn