To: Maurice Winn who wrote (1489 ) 7/22/1998 7:56:00 AM From: Jeff Vayda Respond to of 29987
All: Looks like G* will not have to worry about Zenit draining resources to support Sea Launch at least for a couple months. SEA LAUNCH/HS-702 FIRST FLIGHT SLIPS INTO 1999 posted on 7/22/98 at 07:26 UTC by Stefan Barensky The maiden flight of Sea Launch's Zenit 3SL carrying Galaxy 11, the first HS-702 spacecraft built by Hughes Space & Communications, is now announced for the first quarter of 1999. The postponement was announced by Panamsat Corp., of Greenwich, Conn., which ordered the Galaxy 11 spacecraft from Hughes. As a consequence of the in-orbit failure of Galaxy 4 in May and of reported malfunctions onboard Galaxy 7 and PAS-5, Panamsat has decided to modify the spacecraft footprints in order to be able to operate it from various orbital slots. Galaxy 11, carrying 48 C-band and 24 Ku-band transponders, will be deployed at 99øW (Galaxy 4's slot) instead of 74øW as initially planned. PAS-9, another HS-702 due for launch on a Proton later in 1999, will also be modified. Moreover, Panamsat plans to order up to four more satellites including a replacement for Galaxy 4. The effects of this postponement on Sea Launch's launch schedule are still unknown. Two Zenit 3SL vehicles have been delivered by the Assembly & Command Ship at the company's Homeport in Long Beach, Calif. on July 13. The Odyssey launch platform was in Gibraltar on July 17 and should continue its trip to California via Suez and Singapore. Quick search of FlaToday did not locate the next planned launch. The Sea Launch web page boeing.com has some neat Zenit pictures and comments on six shipsets of rocket components being built but has no mention of flight schedule. I guess G* gets all the public attention for now. Maybe they can prove the 2 week Pad turnaround with two G* launches, that would pump the stock up! Jeff Vayda