spacetoday.net: Proton launches DirecTV satellite

Posted: Sat, Jul 7, 2007, 8:16 AM ET (1216 GMT)
Proton launch of DirecTV 10 (ILS)

An upgraded Proton rocket successfully launched a television broadcasting satellite for DirecTV early Saturday. The Proton M lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 9:16 pm EDT Friday (0116 GMT, 7:16 am local time Saturday) and placed the DirecTV 10 satellite into a geosynchronous transfer orbit approximately nine hours later. The spacecraft, a Boeing 702 model, weighs 5,900 kilograms and carries 131 Ka-band transponders. The satellite will operate from 102.8 degrees west in GEO, where it will be used by satellite TV company DirecTV to provide high-definition television programming for customers in the US. The launch was the first for the "enhanced" version of the Proton, featuring a number of design changes to reduce the vehicle's mass and thus increase its payload capacity; DirecTV 10 is the heaviest GEO spacecraft launched by a Proton.