Posted: Tue, Jun 13, 2006, 7:44 AM ET (1144 GMT)
The multinational commercial launch venture Sea Launch announced Monday that it has won a contract for the launch of a commercial telephony satellite. A Zenit-3SL rocket will launch the Thuraya-3 satellite for the Thuraya Satellite Telecommunications Company in January 2007. The 5,250-kg satellite, being built by Boeing, will be used to expand Thuraya's coverage for its satellite phone system. The first two Thuraya satellites were also built by Boeing and launched by Sea Launch.

Related Links:

•  Space News article (subscription required)
•  NasaSpaceFlight.com article
•  Boeing press release