Sea Launch Embarks on the First Mission of 2004 Long Beach - Jan 05, 2004
The Odyssey Launch Platform and the Sea Launch Commander have departed Sea Launch Home Port for the launch of the Telstar 14/Estrela do Sul 1 communications satellite. Built by Space Systems/Loral for Loral Skynet, the satellite is scheduled for launch on a Zenit-3SL vehicle, January 9, at the start of a two-hour launch window that will open at 8:02 pm PST (4:02:00 GMT, January 10).
The Sea Launch vessels are sailing from Long Beach, Calif., to the launch site on the Equator at 154 degrees West Longitude. Upon arrival, the launch team will initiate a 72-hour countdown, ballasting the Launch Platform to launch depth, and performing final tests on the rocket and spacecraft. The three-stage rocket will lift the 4694 kg (10,350 lb) spacecraft to a high perigee geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO).
This is the first of three consecutive missions Sea Launch will execute for Space Systems/Loral in 2004. Following
the Telstar 14/Estrela do Sul 1 mission, Sea Launch is scheduled to launch DIRECTV-7S and then Telstar-18.
The Sea Launch team will deliver the Telstar 14/Estrela do Sul 1 spacecraft to GTO to support a final orbital position at 63 degrees West Longitude. The SS/L 1300 series spacecraft carries 41 Ku-band transponders with five
unique and interconnecting coverage beams. Fifty percent of the satellite's power will be dedicated to Brazil, providing a dedicated Ku-band solution for the Brazilian marketplace. The satellite's other beams will cover the Americas and the North Atlantic Ocean, where Connexion by Boeing(TM) will use the satellite to provide
its Internet-to-aircraft service.
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