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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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We have liftoff of the Proton M Breeze M rocket and the Satmex 8 satellite.

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Following the successful restart of the launch campaign and completion of fueling of the Satmex 8 spacecraft, SSL put on a large BBQ at the Cosmos for the team. Everyone was able to enjoy ribs, tri-tip and the first warm days of the year as spring starts to creep up on Baikonur. The day following the BBQ we had some downtime, which members of the team took advantage of to go to Baikonur town, or just relax for a few hours in the hotels.

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