spacetoday.net: Zenit launches XM satellite

Posted: Tue, Oct 31, 2006, 6:24 AM ET (1124 GMT)
Zenit 3SL launch of XM-4 (Sea Launch)

A Sea Launch Zenit 3SL successfully launched the latest XM Satellite Radio spacecraft Monday evening. The Zenit 3SL carrying the XM-4 spacecraft lifted off at 6:49 pm EST (2349 GMT) from the floating Odyssey launch platform on the Equator in the Pacific Ocean, and placed the spacecraft into a geosynchronous transfer orbit one hour later. The 5,200-kilogram Boeing-built satellite is the second of a series of two new satellites designed to replace the company's original spacecraft, XM-1 and -2, which suffer from degraded solar power units. XM-4 will take up position in GEO at 115 degrees west, broadcasting subscription radio programming to the US and Canada. XM announced that it will exercise an option for the launch of a fifth satellite, XM-5, with Sea Launch. The launch was the fifth this year for Sea Launch, the most in any single calendar year for the multinational consortium; a sixth launch is scheduled for late this year.