Hispasat 1A was the first satellite in the national system operated by the Spanish satellite communications operator Hispasat, for a dual civil/military mission, offering services to telecommunications operators and radio broadcasting both in Europe and North Africa and America. Satcom C3 was a second generation geostationary comsat built for RCA Americom.

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.