spacetoday.net: Zenit returns to flight with Amos-4 launch

Posted: Sun, Sep 1, 2013, 10:56 AM ET (1456 GMT)
A Zenit-3 rocket successfully launched an Israeli communications satellite Saturday night on the first mission of a Zenit rocket since a Sea Launch failure seven months ago. The Zenit-3SLB rocket lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 4:05 pm EDT Saturday (2005 GMT Saturday, 2:05 am local time Sunday) carrying the Amos-4 satellite. The rocket's Block DM-SL upper stage released the satellite into geosynchronous transfer orbit abut six hours later. The satellite, built by Israel Aerospace Industries for Israeli operator Spacecom, is a 3.5-ton satellite with a Ka- and Ka-band payload that will provide communications services for portions of Russia, the Middle East, and south and east Asia from 65 degrees east in GEO. The launch is the first for the Zenit since the failure of a Zenit-3SL in early February on a mission for Sea Launch.