Posted: Sun, Jun 16, 2002, 12:16 AM ET (0416 GMT)
A Zenit 3SL booster successfully launched a communications satellite Saturday for the multinational Sea Launch venture. The Zenit 3SL lifted off from its floating launch pad on the Equator in the Pacific Ocean south of Hawaii at 6:39 pm EDT (2239 GMT). Its payload, the Galaxy 3C satellite, successfully separated from the upper stage 62 minutes after launch. Galaxy 3C will be used by PanAmSat to provide communications services for the US and Latin America from a final position in geosynchronous orbit at 95 degrees west. The 4,850-kg Boeing 702 spacecraft is equipped with 24 C-band and 52 Ku-band transponders. The launch is the first for the Boeing 702 series of spacecraft after a problem was discovered with solar concentrators on earlier versions of the spacecraft that will cause power production to decline over time; Galaxy 3C is equipped with new solar panels that do not use concentrators. The launch is also the first for Sea Launch since it launched an XM Satellite Radio spacecraft in May 2001. Sea Launch, a venture led by Boeing with participation from Russian, Ukrainian, and Norwegian firms, plans at least two more launches this year.
