Safety Training as Intelsat New Dawn and Co-Passenger Countdown to Launch

I attended a series of mandatory safety training sessions at the French Guiana Spaceport (CSG) yesterday including an emergency evacuation from the Ariane 5 Launch Assembly building. In case of an extreme emergency (explosion, fuel leak), you have to jump from 150 feet down an emergency vertical suit. The practice chute is only 30 feet tall. Needless to say, if you were to really jump in an emergency from the top of the tower and went down 150 feet, you will get extreme skin burns not to mention the next guy landing on your top of your head. We had our first combined operations meeting with our co-passenger, Yahsat and will meet daily until the launch to ensure that our co-passenger and Intelsat New Dawn are closely in sync.

Contributor:
Brian Sing, Satellite Mission Director, Intelsat New Dawn