And What’s a Schedule…Without Some Planned Breaks.

And it may be Baikonur, but the Polyot kitchen and dining hall were filled with the aromas of Italy…if only for one night. We took over the kitchen for a night and treated the team to Italian Night at the Cosmodrome. And while it was only frozen pizzas, it was all homemade spaghetti and meatballs, with a little East Coast and West Coast flare. Add some garlic bread and a tossed salad and you might have thought you were in Tuscany. Fortunately, there were no volunteers to sing “Areviderci Roma”.

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All Work and No Play?…Never!

With all of the accomplishments of the past week or so, and of course the American celebration of Halloween, we sure had a couple of good reasons to BBQ. Throw in the fact that the weather certainly has cooperated, and everyone has taken the opportunity to enjoy every aspect of a launch campaign.

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A Work Filled Week

It is hard to believe that it is November already. It seems like we just started this campaign! But that is how operations go out here in Baikonur.

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Goodbye / Hello!!

Well it has certainly been one of those weeks out here in Baikonur. As soon as we finished celebrating the successful launch of the XM-5 spacecraft (SC) with a great BBQ, we were already welcoming the next campaign team – SkyTerra 1.

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Welcome to the SkyTerra 1 Blog!

Welcome to the seventh ILS Proton launch campaign for 2010 – the launch of the Boeing Space and Intelligence Systems-built, SkyTerra 1 satellite for LightSquared. Follow along with the mission team as they prepare for the launch.

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ILS Proton Successfully Launches XM-5 Satellite

BAIKONUR COSMODROME, Kazakhstan, October 15, 2010 – International Launch Services (ILS), a world leader in providing mission and launch services to the commercial satellite industry, successfully carried the XM-5 satellite into orbit today on an ILS Proton for SIRIUS XM Radio, America’s satellite radio company. This was the 6th commercial mission of the year for ILS and the 9th successful Proton launch of 2010.  This is the 5th ILS Proton launch for SIRIUS XM Radio beginning with the first launch in 2000.

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XM-5 First Burn Completion

We have received confirmation of completion of the first burn. The vehicle is now scheduled to be out of range for about an hour, after which we will hear confirmation of the second burn.

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XM-5 Second Burn Completion

As the Breeze M upper stage of our Proton M rocket continues its climb into space with the XM-5 satellite, we have received confirmation that the 2nd burn of the upper stage occurred and shut down as scheduled.

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For the latest news and information, or if you have a question, please email ILS at contactus@ilslaunch.com