spacetoday.net: Sea Launch places Japanese satellite in orbit

Posted: Thu, Apr 13, 2006, 8:40 AM ET (1240 GMT)
Zenit 3SL launch of EchoStar 10 (Sea Launch)

A Zenit 3SL rocket successfully launched a US-built Japanese communications satellite Wednesday evening. The Zenit 3SL, operated by the multinational venture Sea Launch, lifted off from its floating platform on the Equator in the Pacific Ocean at 7:30 pm EDT (2330 GMT) Wednesday. The booster placed its payload, the JCSAT-9 satellite, into geosynchronous transfer orbit an hour later. The spacecraft, a Lockheed Martin A2100AX model, weighed 4,400 kg at launch and carries 20 Ku-band and 20 C-band transponders. The spacecraft, which will operate from 132 degrees east in GEO, will be used by Japanese satellite operator JSAT to provide communications services in East Asia and the Pacific. The launch was the second of the year for Sea Launch, which plans to conduct as many as six missions in 2006.