Reston, VA and Washington, DC, March 28, 2013 – International Launch Services (ILS) and Intelsat S.A., the world’s leading provider of satellite services, have signed a contract for two firm ILS Proton launch missions.
We have had a successful mission with the ILS Proton Rocket, carrying the Satmex 8 satellite built by SSL. We have had confirmation that the Satmex 8 satellite separated from the vehicle on schedule at 12:20 a.m. EDT, or 07:20 GMT, 9 hours and 13 minutes after liftoff.
We had a successful liftoof about 15 minutes ago of the ILS Proton M Breeze M rocket, which is carrying the Satmex 8 satellite onboard. The three stages of the proton vehicle have performed as planned, and it is up to the Breeze M upper stage to complete the mission. The upper stage has begun its first burn, whcih is scheduled to last around 4 minutes.
We have confirmed that the Breeze M upper stage has successfully completed its 3rd & 4th burns, as well as jettisoning its additional propellant tank. The vehicle is now in a 4-hour coast period, during which we will have nothing to report. The 5th burn is scheduled to start around 11:58 p.m. EDT, or 03:58 GMT. Separation of Satmex 8 spacecraft is scheduled to follow the 5th burn completion by about 8 minutes.
As the Breeze M upper stage of our Proton M rocket continues its climb into space with the Satmex 8 satellite onboard, we have received confirmation that the 2nd burn of the upper stage occurred and shut down as scheduled.
The next events are scheduled for about 2 hours from now. The Breeze M upper stage will ignite for a 3rd time and burn for approximately 15 minutes; after that the additional propellant tank will be jettisoned, and the 4th burn will start and complete. All this will happen in a span of almost 20 minutes while the vehicle is again out of range of a ground station. We should reacquire the vehicle shortly after the 4th burn ends.
