spacetoday.net: Hughes moves Spaceway 3 launch to Ariane

Posted: Fri, Mar 2, 2007, 7:17 AM ET (1217 GMT)
Ariane 5 ECA launch of Satmex 6 and Thaicom 5 (Arianespace)

Hughes Network Systems announced Thursday that it has moved the launch of its Spaceway 3 spacecraft from Sea Launch to Arianespace, the latest fallout from January's Zenit 3SL launch failure. Hughes said it was able to secure an August launch slot on an Ariane 5, despite earlier reports that the near-term manifests for Ariane and other major commercial launch providers were full through the end of this year and beyond. Spaceway 3, a 6,000-kilogram spacecraft, will be used by Hughes to provide broadband Internet services in North America. The spacecraft is the second one in as many weeks to shift to Arianespace because of problems with Sea Launch and its associated venture Land Launch. Last week SES Americom shifted the launch of its AMC-21 spacecraft to Arianespace because of delays in the introduction of Land Launch, which uses a rocket nearly identical to Sea Launch's Zenit 3SLB but launched from Baikonur. Sea Launch officials said last week that an investigation into the January 30 Sea Launch failure, when a Zenit 3SL rocket exploded on its floating launch pad, is ongoing, and would not set a specific date this year when they believed they would resume launches.