Europe's most powerful rocket, Ariane 5 heavy rocket which carries with two satellites on board, was sent into orbit at 06:03 PM (2103 GMT) Saturday from Kourou, French Guiana, Arianespace said from its headquarters outside Paris.

The launch came after more than two years after its first launch ended in failure.

A half hour after launch, Ariane released two satellites into stationary orbits: a Spanish military communications satellite and a German-built experimental spacecraft which will study the behavior of fluids in orbit.

After the failure of the last attempt two years ago, the successful launch of a re-designed Ariane strengthened Europe's bid to become a leader in commercial satellite launching.

The rocket launched Saturday has an improved engine and more thrust than its predecessor, and a redesigned cooling system to prevent the costly failure of the previous launch attempt. The agency invested 556 million euros in the improvements.

(Xinhua News Agency February 13, 2005)