As the Breeze M upper stage of our Proton M rocket continues its climb into space with the SES-3 and KazSat-2 satellites onboard, we have received confirmation that the 2nd burn of the upper stage occurred and shut down as scheduled.

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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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We had a successful liftoff about 11 minutes ago of our Proton M Breeze M rocket, which is carrying the SES-3 and KazSat-2 satellites on board. 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, which is scheduled to last around 5 minutes.
 

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We have liftoff! of the ILS Proton M Breeze M rocket and the SES-3 satellite.

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After the ascent unit containing the SES-3 spacecraft, the KazSat-2 SC and the Breeze M were integrated to the launch vehicle, the next step was to apply the thermal blanket to the now integrated launch vehicle, which provides a stable environment for our 2 sensitive payloads.  Once complete, the delicate operation of transferring the enormous rocket to the transporter was performed, and the huge machine was slowly moved via rail to the Breeze M fueling station where fueling took place over the course of the next two days.

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In the last two days, two more important milestones have been accomplished.  The SES-3 spacecraft (SC) was placed on top of the KazSat-2 SC, and the “stack” was tilted into a horizontal position for encapsulation into the payload fairing.  Today, the Orbital electrical team will check the internal Proton umbilical transit lines.  All operations are proceeding according to schedule and there are no issues.

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Several campaign milestones have occurred this past week.  The SES-3 (OS-2) spacecraft (SC) was successfully mated to the payload adapter (PLA).  RUAG, Orbital and Khrunichev worked continuously for several hours, performing checks at every new step to be sure all mechanical and electrical connections were secure.   Then it was carefully lifted and placed on top of the Breeze-M/KazSat-2 stack and secured in place.  We now officially have an Ascent Unit for the first ILS Proton shared launch!

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The SES-3 (OS-2) spacecraft  is being prepared for fueling, which will take place 25 and 27 June (Baikonur time).  All testing and operations up to this point have been nominal.  The Breeze M upper stage engine, is installed on the tilter in preparation for joint operations with Khrunichev, which will begin on 29 June (BKR), marking another milestone in the SES-3 (OS-2) campaign.

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After the SES-3 (OS-2) spacecraft was removed from its container, the mechanical fitcheck commenced.  The mechanical fitcheck verifies the mechanical interface to the adapter ring, including the clearances for the umbilical connectors and adapter harness.  During this operation, two specialists from RUAG worked in conjunction with Orbital mechanical engineers.  Once the fitcheck was complete and all connections were verified, Orbital engineers transferred the spacecraft to Hall 103A for stand-alone testing.

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