Artemis has finally reached geostationary orbit, some 36,000 kilometers above the Earth, at 21.5 degreesE, the European Space Agency announced Friday.

The satellite was orginally launched July 12, 2001, into a faulty orbit due to the malfunction of the troubled Ariane 5 launch vehicle. Now, eighteen months later, ESA’s most advanced telecommunications satellite is ready to begin offering services.

Artemis (which stands for Advanced Relay and Technology Mission) was left in a lower than intended orbit when the Ariane 5 upper stage malfunctioned. It was even feared at the time that the entire mission might be lost. But engineers from ESA prime contractor Alenia Spazio, Astrium, Telespazio, succeeded in slowly moving the satellite to its correct orbit.