MSG-3 spacecraft arrived in CSG

On 13th April 2012 the MSG-3 Spacecraft, loaded on an Antonov 124-100, left Nice Cote d'Azur airport at ca 8:00 am local time for a planned landing at 16:30 local time, Cayenne, French Guyana. A step over was made on  the Sal Island (Amilcar Cabral international airport) in the Cape Verde archipelago to refuel the plane as it was the case before the modern jets were able to cross the Atlantic ocean in one shot.
On our side, all teams arrived at the Felix Eboué airport at 16:00, were very excited when they saw the Antonov at 16:22 flying over the local control tower.

After a 20 kilometer curve over the rain forest, the Antonov lined up  with the taxiway.

Landing was really great to be observed.
With 53 tons of packed equipment for this Launch campaign, the Antonov was not at this maximum load capacity but completely full in volume. Unloading of the containers started from the rear side of the aircraft at around 17:00 local time.

Once loaded, and clearance obtained from customs, the first trucks left immediately for the CSG.
On the front of the aircraft, a ramp was built for unloading of the MSG-3 transport container.
Note the beautiful colours of the sky at dusk. It seems that we had a bit of chance so far with the weather on this special day.

Very carefully, MSG-3 container was slided along the ramp slope. Note the extremely tiny clearance between the top of the container and the cockpit floor.

At ca 20:30, after the container was lifted on the trailer,  the "convoi exceptionnel" (oversize load) was ready to leave the Cayenne airport for its S5C destination at the Kourou space port. This drive lasted roughly two hours:  the speed was not exceeding 50km/h for reducing shocks, and, en route, some technical stops were made.

When the convoy arrived in CSG (ca 23:10), the rain started to fall heavily,...again! The trailer entered backwards in the S5C Airlock. Note that some precautions with respect to cleanliness were taken: e.g. protective material under the truck wheels

Unloading the trailer was completed at 01:15am  (on Saturday 14/04/2012).
It was definitely a long day for the Thales (TAS) and the CSG support teams. Then, everybody returned to respective hotels for a short night.

Activities continued early this morning starting with the several usual meetings. Transport Container was eventually open ca 12:00.  So far, the baby looks in good shape and having survived the journey.

At Launch Day minus 44, the real campaign can start!