Posted: Wed, Jul 14, 2004, 12:35 AM ET (0435 GMT)

International Launch Services announced Tuesday that it has won a contract to launch a DirecTV satellite on a Proton. ILS reported that the DirecTV Group has signed a contract to launch the DirecTV 8 satellite, a Space Systems/Loral 1300 model, on a Proton M launch vehicle in the spring 2005. Terms of the contract were not announced. The launch contract is the ninth announced by ILS so far in 2004.