\<COLOUR 1> LAUNCH DATE: \<COLOUR 0> December 11, 1988
\<COLOUR 1> LAUNCH SITE: \<COLOUR 0> Kourou Space Centre, French Guiana
\<COLOUR 1> LAUNCH VEHICLE: \<COLOUR 0> Ariane 4
\<COLOUR 1> ORBIT: \<COLOUR 0> Geostationary
\<COLOUR 1> SIZE: \<COLOUR 0> Box-shaped, 1.5 metres by 3.2 metres by 2 metres; solar array span 19.3 metres
\<COLOUR 1> WEIGHT: \<COLOUR 0> 1.8 tonnes
\<COLOUR 1> COUNTRY: \<COLOUR 0> Europe
\<COLOUR 1> COMMENTS: \<COLOUR 0> Europe's first commercial direct broadcasting satellite (DBS), powerful enough to send programmes directly to small domestic satellite dishes; Astra 1B launched March 2, 1991.