 On 9 April 1968, the Guiana Space Centre, France's new national launching complex at Kourou, French Guiana, was officially declared to be operational; Diamant launches were subsequently shifted to this facility, along with various other missiles in use by France and, later on, other European nations as well.On 10 March 1970, the first "Diamant B" rocket, an improved model of the launcher, was fired, carrying a pair of scientific satellite, named "DIAL/MIKA" and "DIAL/WIKA", into orbit.Only one of the two satellites, which had been produced as a collaborative effort between France and Germany to study the Van Allen radiation belt around the Earth, survived the launch process.