Posted: Tue, Aug 22, 2006, 8:46 AM ET (1246 GMT)
A Zenit 3SL successfully launched a South Korean communications satellite Monday night. The Sea Launch Zenit 3SL lifted off from the Odyssey launch platform on the Equator in the Pacific Ocean at 11:27 pm EDT Monday (0327 GMT Tuesday) and placed the Koreasat 5 spacecraft into geosynchronous transfer orbit a little over an hour after liftoff. The spacecraft, a Spacebus 4000 C1 model built by Alcatel Alenia Space, is owned jointly by the KT Corporation and South Korea's Agency for Defense Development. The 4,450-kg spacecraft will operate in GEO at 113 degrees east, and carries both Ku-band transponders for commercial applications and Ka- and SHF-band transponders for military applications. The launch is the fourth this year for Sea Launch, which plans two more launches before the end of the year.

Related Links:

•  Spaceflight Now article
•  Korea Times article
•  Interfax article
•  Sea Launch press release
•  Alcatel press release