spacetoday.net: Zenit 3SL launches Brazilian communications satellite

Posted: Sun, Jan 11, 2004, 1:34 PM ET (1834 GMT)
Zenit 3SL launch of Estrela do Sul (Boeing)

A Sea Launch Zenit 3SL successfully launched a communications satellite for Brazil late Saturday. The Zenit 3SL lifted off at 11:13 am EST Saturday (0413 GMT Sunday) from the Odyssey launch platform in the Pacific Ocean on the Equator at 154 degrees west longitude. The vehicle placed the Estrela do Sul spacecraft into a high-perigee geosynchronous transfer orbit about 65 minutes after liftoff. The spacecraft, to be located in GEO at 63 degrees west, will be operated by a Loral subsidiary, Loral Skynet do Brasil and will provide communications services for Brazil, the rest of the Americas, and the north Atlantic Ocean; the latter area will be used by Boeing's Connexion in-flight data service. The satellite, a 1300-series built by Space Systems/Loral, carries 41 Ku-band transponders. The launch is the first of 2004 worldwide, and the first of five or six launches planned this year by the multinational Sea Launch venture.