Jacques van Oene
April 25th 05, 03:56 PM
Sea Launch Prepares for Liftoff of Spaceway Satellite on April 26
LONG BEACH, Calif. , April 22, 2005 - The Sea Launch team has arrived at its
equatorial launch site in preparation for the launch of DIRECTV's Spaceway
satellite on Tuesday, April 26, at 12:31:30 am PDT ( 07:31:30 GMT), at the
opening of a half-hour launch window. All systems are proceeding on
schedule.
With launch site operations now underway, the marine crew is ballasting the
Odyssey Launch Platform to its launch depth to ensure stability. The Sea
Launch Commander (Assembly and Command Ship), will be stationed alongside
the Odyssey, throughout the weekend, frequently connected by a link-bridge
that enables foot traffic between the two vessels. The team will initiate a
72-hour launch countdown tomorrow, April 23. On the day before launch, the
platform will be evacuated, with all personnel safely stationed on the ship,
three miles from the platform, throughout launch operations. The rocket will
be rolled out of its environmentally-protected hangar and automatically
erected on the launch pad at L-27 hours.
Sea Launch's Zenit-3SL vehicle will lift the 6,080 kg (13,376 lb.) Spaceway
satellite to geosynchronous transfer orbit, on its way to a final orbital
position at 102.8 degrees West Longitude. The Boeing 702 model spacecraft,
with a design life of 12 years, was manufactured at Boeing's Satellite
Development Center in El Segundo, Calif. It includes a flexible payload with
a fully steerable downlink antenna that can be reconfigured on orbit to
seamlessly address market conditions. It is the most complex commercial
satellite system that Boeing has ever built.
Spaceway, Sea Launch's third mission for DIRECTV, is one of four
Boeing-built Ka-band satellites that DIRECTV has scheduled for launch over
the next three years as part of an historic expansion of programming
capacity that will enable DIRECTV to deliver more than 1,500 local and
national High Definition channels and other advanced programming services to
consumers nationwide by 2007.
Sea Launch will carry a live satellite feed and streaming video of the
entire mission, beginning at 12:15 am PDT ( 07:15:00 GMT). To downlink the
broadcast, transponder coordinates are posted at:
www.boeing.com/nosearch/sealaunch/broadcast.html
A simultaneous webcast will be posted at:
www.sea-launch.com/current_index_webcast.html
Sea Launch Company, LLC, headquartered in Long Beach, Calif., and marketed
through Boeing Launch Services ( www.boeing.com/launch ), is the world's
most reliable commercial launch services provider. With the advantage of a
launch site on the Equator, the proven Zenit-3SL rocket can lift a heavier
spacecraft mass or provide longer life on orbit, yielding best value plus
schedule assurance. Sea Launch offers the most direct and cost-effective
route to geostationary orbit. For additional information, visit the Sea
Launch website at: www.sea-launch.com
###
Contacts:
Paula Korn
562.499.4729 or 562.254.5684 (mobile)
During the mission, press may contact: Dan Beck, 562.951.7088 or
562.951.7388
--
--------------
Jacques :-)
www.spacepatches.info
LONG BEACH, Calif. , April 22, 2005 - The Sea Launch team has arrived at its
equatorial launch site in preparation for the launch of DIRECTV's Spaceway
satellite on Tuesday, April 26, at 12:31:30 am PDT ( 07:31:30 GMT), at the
opening of a half-hour launch window. All systems are proceeding on
schedule.
With launch site operations now underway, the marine crew is ballasting the
Odyssey Launch Platform to its launch depth to ensure stability. The Sea
Launch Commander (Assembly and Command Ship), will be stationed alongside
the Odyssey, throughout the weekend, frequently connected by a link-bridge
that enables foot traffic between the two vessels. The team will initiate a
72-hour launch countdown tomorrow, April 23. On the day before launch, the
platform will be evacuated, with all personnel safely stationed on the ship,
three miles from the platform, throughout launch operations. The rocket will
be rolled out of its environmentally-protected hangar and automatically
erected on the launch pad at L-27 hours.
Sea Launch's Zenit-3SL vehicle will lift the 6,080 kg (13,376 lb.) Spaceway
satellite to geosynchronous transfer orbit, on its way to a final orbital
position at 102.8 degrees West Longitude. The Boeing 702 model spacecraft,
with a design life of 12 years, was manufactured at Boeing's Satellite
Development Center in El Segundo, Calif. It includes a flexible payload with
a fully steerable downlink antenna that can be reconfigured on orbit to
seamlessly address market conditions. It is the most complex commercial
satellite system that Boeing has ever built.
Spaceway, Sea Launch's third mission for DIRECTV, is one of four
Boeing-built Ka-band satellites that DIRECTV has scheduled for launch over
the next three years as part of an historic expansion of programming
capacity that will enable DIRECTV to deliver more than 1,500 local and
national High Definition channels and other advanced programming services to
consumers nationwide by 2007.
Sea Launch will carry a live satellite feed and streaming video of the
entire mission, beginning at 12:15 am PDT ( 07:15:00 GMT). To downlink the
broadcast, transponder coordinates are posted at:
www.boeing.com/nosearch/sealaunch/broadcast.html
A simultaneous webcast will be posted at:
www.sea-launch.com/current_index_webcast.html
Sea Launch Company, LLC, headquartered in Long Beach, Calif., and marketed
through Boeing Launch Services ( www.boeing.com/launch ), is the world's
most reliable commercial launch services provider. With the advantage of a
launch site on the Equator, the proven Zenit-3SL rocket can lift a heavier
spacecraft mass or provide longer life on orbit, yielding best value plus
schedule assurance. Sea Launch offers the most direct and cost-effective
route to geostationary orbit. For additional information, visit the Sea
Launch website at: www.sea-launch.com
###
Contacts:
Paula Korn
562.499.4729 or 562.254.5684 (mobile)
During the mission, press may contact: Dan Beck, 562.951.7088 or
562.951.7388
--
--------------
Jacques :-)
www.spacepatches.info