Launch of OTS-2

Launch of ESA's OTS-2 aboard a US Delta from Cape Canaveral, Florida on 12 May 1978. ESA's Orbital Test Satellite (OTS) project developed and demonstrated technologies and techniques for a new generation of telecommunications satellites, leading directly to the ECS and Marecs designs. The highly-successful OTS-2 was not retired from geostationary orbit until January 1991. OTS-1 was lost in the failure of its US Delta launcher on 14 September 1977. [Image Date: 12-05-78] [78.06.337-002]