View source for Asterix-Diademe, Card No 38 (RaceIntoSpace 1971)

{{RISCard1971|{{BASEPAGENAMEE}}.jpg|38|Asterix-Diadème |26th November 1965  
|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. 
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{{Satellite}}