Asterix-Diademe, Card No 38 (RaceIntoSpace 1971)
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Card No. 38: Asterix-Diadème
France became the third nation after Russia and America to launch a satellite on November 26, 1965.
Having lifted-off from a launch pad at Hammaguir in the Sahara, the three-stage Diamant A injected an 86-pound test-satellite Asterix 1 into a 327-1,123 mile orbit inclined at 34.24° to the Equator. This experiment qualified the launcher for further missions. Three more satellites followed from Hammaguir—Diapason 1 on February 17, 1966; Diadème 1 on February 8, 1967 and Diadème 2 on Feb. 15, 1967.
Then France had to vacate the Sahara range under the terms of the Evian treaty with Algeria. It was more than three years before France resumed satellite launching — with Diamant B — from a new equatorial launch centre at Kourou in French Guiana.
