France became the third country to launch its own satellite, Asterix, November 26, 1965, after the USSR and the United States. However, France is the sixth country to have an artificial satellite in orbit. The United Kingdom, Canada and Italy launched satellites before but on American rockets.
Asterix was intended to take measurements of the ionosphere, but stopped transmitting after two days. Some reports state that it failed to transmit at all. Due to its high orbit, it is not expected to re-enter Earth's atmosphere for several centuries.
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