Posted: Wed, Mar 25, 2009, 6:35 AM ET (1035 GMT)
International Launch Services announced Tuesday that it was agreed to launch an Intelsat spacecraft later this year that had previously been scheduled to be launched by a competitor. A Proton M will launch the Intelsat 16 satellite in the fourth quarter of this year. The 2,500-kilogram spacecraft is under construction by Orbital Sciences Corporation and will operate from 58 degrees west in GEO. Intelsat had awarded a contract to Land Launch in 2008 to launch the spacecraft on a Zenit-3SLB. The ILS contract is the latest in a series of recent launch awards to ILS for spacecraft that had previously contracted for launches elsewhere.

Related Links:

•  Space News article (subscription required)
•  ILS press release