Proton returns to flight with successful Intelsat launch
Posted: Mon, Oct 15, 2012, 7:22 AM ET (1122 GMT)
Two months after a launch failure, the Proton rocket returned to flight Sunday with the successful launch of a communications satellite for Intelsat. The Proton M rocket lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 4:37 am EDT (0837 GMT, 2:37 pm local time) Sunday carrying the Intelsat 23 satellite. The rocket's Breeze M upper stage released the satellite into a near-geosynchronous orbit nine and a half hours later. Intelsat 23, built by Orbital Sciences Corporation, weighed 2,700 kilograms at launch and carries a payload of C and Ku-band transponders. Intelsat will use the spacecraft to replace the aging Intelsat 707 spacecraft at 53 degrees west in GEO. The launch was the first for the Proton since the August 6 failure of a Russian government Proton launch carrying Russian and Indonesian satellites; a problem with the Breeze M upper stage placed the satellites into the wrong orbits.
Two months after a launch failure, the Proton rocket returned to flight Sunday with the successful launch of a communications satellite for Intelsat. The Proton M rocket lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 4:37 am EDT (0837 GMT, 2:37 pm local time) Sunday carrying the Intelsat 23 satellite. The rocket's Breeze M upper stage released the satellite into a near-geosynchronous orbit nine and a half hours later. Intelsat 23, built by Orbital Sciences Corporation, weighed 2,700 kilograms at launch and carries a payload of C and Ku-band transponders. Intelsat will use the spacecraft to replace the aging Intelsat 707 spacecraft at 53 degrees west in GEO. The launch was the first for the Proton since the August 6 failure of a Russian government Proton launch carrying Russian and Indonesian satellites; a problem with the Breeze M upper stage placed the satellites into the wrong orbits.
Related Links:
| <<previous article | next article>> |
|
news in brief
|
|
|
|
news links
|
|
Monday, February 9
Globe Telecom Seals Agreement with Starlink to Launch First Southeast Asia Direct?to?Cell Satellite Service
PR Newswire — 7:17 am ET (1217 GMT) Is Starlink still the un-jammable panacea many had thought?
Resilience Media — 7:16 am ET (1216 GMT) Sky is not the limit, India must guard the final frontier
The New Indian Express — 7:14 am ET (1214 GMT) Elon Musk said we'd reach Mars in 2026. Now, he says SpaceX is building a city on the moon.
Business Insider — 7:11 am ET (1211 GMT) Feel the boom: More and bigger SpaceX launches are coming to Santa Barbara County
Santa Barbara News-Press — 7:10 am ET (1210 GMT) |
