Posted: Wed, Jul 7, 2004, 7:31 PM ET (2331 GMT)
Engineers are continuing to investigate a problem with the upper stage of a Sea Launch Zenit 3SL booster that placed its payload into a lower-than-planned orbit last week. The launch of the Telstar 18 satellite on June 28 was marred when the booster's Block DM upper stage shut down 54 seconds early, placing the satellite into an orbit with an apogee of 21,000 km instead of the planned 36,000 km. Sea Launch officials are confident that the problem, which they say is not related to previous problems with the upper stage, will be corrected in time to permit the international joint venture to carry out two more launches, of Intelsat Americas 8 and XM 3, later this year. Satellite operator Loral said that they will be able to place the satellite into its proper orbit without shortening its 13-year lifetime. Space News reported in its print edition this week that Loral can accomplish this because it filled the spacecraft with extra propellant before the launch; had the launch gone as planned the spacecraft would have been able to operate in orbit for over 20 years.

Related Links:

•  Spaceflight Now article
•  Boeing press release