CAPE CANAVERAL Air Station, Fla., Sept. 17, 1999 – The launch of EchoStar V on a Lockheed Martin Atlas IIAS rocket, postponed from Sept. 13, is now confirmed for launch on Sept. 22 from Complex 36A at Cape Canaveral Air Station, FL. The new launch window opens at 1:08 a.m. EDT and extends one hour and 59 minutes to 3:07 a.m.

The launch was postponed from Monday, Sept. 13, to allow engineers time to analyze an avionics unit that failed factory testing the weekend before the launch. The unit — a Remote Control Unit (RCU) — is part of the Atlas launch vehicle control system. None of the avionics systems on the launch vehicle had exhibited problems; however, it is standard procedure to thoroughly check out components that fail during production acceptance testing when they are identical or similar to those components already installed on the launch vehicle. That analysis of the RCU isolated the acceptance testing failure to a single quality escape, which cleared the unit already installed on the vehicle.

After the launch was scrubbed for Sept. 13, a second launch attempt on Tuesday, Sept. 14, which would have been standard assuming clearance of the technical issue, was precluded by mandatory preparations for Hurricane Floyd. Launch operations personnel were able to return to Complex 36 starting Wednesday, Sept. 15, to assess the launch vehicle, satellite and ground support facilities at Complex 36. No systems experienced any adverse effects from the hurricane as its center passed more than 100 miles off the coast of Cape Canaveral.

The launch will be broadcast live on Galaxy 6, Transponder 5 (C-band, downlink frequency 3800 MHz) starting with test signals at 12:30 a.m. the evening of Sept. 21 and continuing through spacecraft separation approximately 30 minutes following liftoff.