spacetoday.net: Atlas 2AS launches Hispasat

Posted: Wed, Sep 18, 2002, 10:44 PM ET (0244 GMT)
Atlas 2AS launch of Hispasat 1D

An Atlas 2AS successfully launched a Hispasat communications satellite Wednesday evening. The Atlas 2AS lifted off from pad 36A at Cape Canaveral, Florida on schedule at 6:04 pm EDT (2204 GMT) and released its payload, the Hispasat 1D communications satellite, into a supersynchronous transfer orbit 29 minutes later. Hispasat 1D, an Alcatel Spacebus 3000B2 spacecraft, will be used by Madrid-based Hispasat to provide Ku-band communications services from 30 degrees west longitude. The launch is the fourth Atlas launch of 2002, counting the Atlas 3B and Atlas 5 launches in February and August respectively, as well as an Atlas 2A launch in March. The launch is also the 62nd consecutive successful Atlas launch dating back to 1993.