Posted: Tue, Nov 8, 2005, 10:57 PM ET (0357 GMT)
A Sea Launch Zenit 3SL booster successfully launched a large communications satellite early Tuesday. The Zenit 3SL lifted off from the Odyssey floating launch platform, on the Equator in the Pacific Ocean, at 9:07 am EST (1407 GMT), placing the Inmarsat-4 F2 satellite into geosynchronous transfer orbit. The satellite, built by EADS Astrium and weighing nearly 6,000 kg at launch, will be located in GEO at 53 degrees west longitude. It will be used to provide high-speed communications for mobile users, joining the first Inmarsat 4 satellite, launched in March on at Atlas 5. The launch was the fourth of the year for Sea Launch, the multinational venture led by Boeing.

Related Links:

•  Spaceflight Now article
•  AP article
•  BBC article
•  RIA Novosti article
•  Boeing press release