Posted: Thu, Feb 16, 2006, 5:37 AM ET (1037 GMT)
A Sea Launch rocket successfully launched a new direct broadcasting satellite Wednesday evening. The Zenit 3SL lifted off from the Odyssey mobile launch platform on the Equator in the Pacific Ocean at 6:35 pm EST (2335 GMT). It released its payload, the EchoStar 10 satellite, into a geosynchronous transfer orbit about one hour later. The 4,300-kilogram satellite, a Lockheed Martin A2100AX model, will be located at 110 degrees west longitude, joining EchoStar's fleet of direct broadcast TV satellites. The launch, the first of six planned this year for Sea Launch, had been delayed a week because of ground system problems.

Related Links:

•  Spaceflight Now article
•  Itar-Tass article
•  Los Angeles Times article
•  Boeing press release
•  Lockheed Martin press release