This mission was the sixth Ariane 5 launch in 2012, where the Eutelsat 21B is Arianespace’s 26th satellite launch for Eutelsat and Star One C3 is the ninth Brazilian satellite to use the European launcher.

Eutelsat 21 B will be positioned at 21.5 degrees East and was built using a Spacebus 4000C3 platform by Thales Alenia Space, fitted with 40 active Ku-band transponders. It is designed to provide businesses and governments in Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, western Africa and Central Asia with telecommunications and data transmission services and has a design life of over 15 years.

Star One C3 will be positioned in geostationary orbit at 75 or 84 degrees West. It was built by Orbital Sciences based on a Star-2 platform and is equipped with 28 C-band and 16 Ku-band transponders. The satellite is designed to provide Brazil and South America with direct TV broadcast, telephone and long-distance domestic communications services and has a design life of 15 years.