 Arabsat-1B, the second flight model, was deployed in June 1985, from the Space Shuttle Discovery on mission STS-51-G, and placed into service near 26.0° East, and remained in operation until mid-1992.Arabsat-1C, the third satellite of the series, was launched by Ariane on 26 February 1992, as a stop-gap measure to maintain network services until the Arabsat second generation spacecraft became available.Arabsat-1D, was renamed from the Anik-D2 (a Hughes HS-376 bus originally carrying 24 active C-band transponders).