Success, according to Starsem:
starsem.com
FOURTH STARSEM SOYUZ LAUNCH SUCCESSFUL
FOUR MORE GLOBALSTAR IN ORBIT
Suresnes, Wednesday September 22, 1999
Starsem has successfully launched four more satellites of the Globalstar constellation from the Baikonur
cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The Soyuz launcher lifted off on Wednesday September 22 at 8:33 p.m.
Baikonour local time (4:33 p.m. Paris time). The four telecommunications satellites were placed as planned
into a circular orbit, inclined at 52°, at 920 kilometers altitude.
Starsem, whose partners are Aerospatiale Matra, Arianespace, the Russian Space Agency (RKA), and the
Samara Space Center, operates the commercial launch services for the Soyuz family of launchers. The first
three Starsem launches took place respectively February 9, March 15, and April 15, 1999, placing twelve
Globalstar satellites in orbit.
For this mission once again, the Soyuz launcher was equipped with the re-ignitable Ikar upper stage,
developed by the Samara Space Center, as well as the payload dispenser built by Aerospatiale Matra
Lanceurs, which enables the separation of the four satellites.
The Globalstar constellation is made of forty-eight satellites circling the globe on eight orbital planes of six
satellites each. It is designed to ensure mobile telecommunication services with worldwide coverage. With
today's launch of four satellites, there are now forty Globalstar satellites in orbit (eight satellites were launched
in early 1998, and twenty-eight during the year 1999.) |
