spacetoday.net: Atlas 5 launches Rainbow 1

Posted: Fri, Jul 18, 2003, 12:08 AM ET (0408 GMT)
Atlas 5 launch of Rainbow 1 (ILS)

A new variant of the Atlas 5 booster successfully launched a direct broadcasting satellite Thursday evening. The Atlas 5 521 lifted off from Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral, Florida at 7:45 pm EDT (2345 GMT); its payload, the Rainbow 1 satellite, separated from the Centaur upper stage of the booster one hour and 40 minutes later. The launch was delayed 25 minutes because of both weather issues and two minor technical problems, but otherwise there were no problems with the countdown or launch. The launch was the first for the 521 configuration of the Atlas 5, which uses a payload fairing five meters in diameter and two strap-on solid propellant boosters. The first two Atlas 5 launches were in the 401 configuration, with a smaller four-meter fairing and no strap-on boosters. The Rainbow 1 satellite is an A2100AX satellite built by Lockheed Martin. The satellite's owner, Cablevision, plans to use it to inaugurate a new direct-to-home satellite broadcast service, Rainbow, to augment its existing cable television business. Cablevision announced earlier this year that it plans to spin off Rainbow into a separate company.