Posted: Thu, Mar 20, 2008, 7:54 AM ET (1154 GMT)
A Sea Launch rocket success launched a new satellite designed to provide HDTV programming to customers in the US. The Zenit-3SL lifted off from the Odyssey launch platform on the Equator in the Pacific Ocean at 6:48 pm EDT (2248 GMT) and placed the DIRECTV 11 satellite into geosynchronous transfer orbit about an hour later. The satellite, a Boeing 702 model, weighs 5,923 kg and carries a Ka-band payload that its owner, DIRECTV, plans to use to provide high-definition TV services to viewers in the US. The satellite will operate from 99.2 degrees west in GEO and enter service in September. The launch is the second of six planned for Sea Launch in 2008, with up to three additional Land Launch missions, using a variant of the Zenit-3 launched from Baikonur, scheduled as well.

Related Links:

•  Spaceflight Now article
•  RIA Novosti article
•  AP article
•  Sea Launch press release
•  DIRECTV press release