Ariane 44L | PAS 3R & MEASAT 1

In November 1991, PanAmSat Corporation ordered three Hughes HS-601 model PAS (PanAmSat) satellites from Hughes Space and Communications Company. The satellites provide video services for program distribution and syndication; data services for business applications; and services for video, radio, data and telephone transmission. They were placed over the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian oceans, respectively. In August 1993, PanAmSat ordered a fourth satellite, to be used as a spare. The spare was pressed into service to replace the first PAS-3 spacecraft, which was lost during a launch vehicle failure. The MEASAT system will provide the first direct-to-user (DTU) service in Malaysia, as well as general communications services in an area reaching from India to Hawaii and from Japan to East Australia. Among DTU services are television and educational programs beamed to small (50-cm) home antennas. General regional communications services include telephony, television, data transmission, and business networks. Binariang is the first cellular operator in Malaysia to offer fully digital services.

The Ariane 4 was an expendable space launch system, developed by the Centre national d'études spatiales (CNES), the French space agency, for the European Space Agency (ESA). It was manufactured by ArianeGroup and marketed by Arianespace. Since its first flight on 15 June 1988 until the final flight on 15 February 2003, it attained 113 successful launches out of 116 total launches.

Arianespace SA is a multinational company founded in 1980 as the world's first commercial launch service provider. It undertakes the production, operation, and marketing of the Ariane programme. Their vehicles launch exclusively from French Guiana in South America.