ESA’s Gerhard Billig at Santa Maria station: “Ariane & ATV: first pass tracked successfully – we even saw the launcher!” The ESTRACK station at Santa Maria, Portugal, acquired Ariane about 12 mins after launch and received telemetry for about 8 minutes as it soared — literally — overhead. More info: https://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Operations/SEM54OLTRJG_0.html