As the Breeze M upper stage of our Proton M rocket continues its climb into space with the SkyTerra 1 satellite, 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 12 minutes; after that the additional propellant tank will be jettisoned. Then the Breeze M will ignite for a 4th time and burn for approximately 5 minutes. All this will happen while the vehicle is again out of range of a ground station. We should reacquire the vehicle shortly after the 4th engine burn completion.