CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- The final new episode of NBC-TV's "Friends" or perhaps a list of spring break temperatures from the Weather Channel could soon be seen on your living room television thanks to a rocket launch from the Cape on Thursday.
Lofted into Earth orbit by an Atlas 2AS rocket was the AMC-10 communications satellite, a Lockheed Martin-built spacecraft that will relay programming from networks such as Viacom, C-SPAN, E! Networks, Lifetime Entertainment and QVC.
The all C-band AMC-10 satellite will provide programming to 80 million customers and operate from geosynchronous orbit at 135 degrees West Longitude, replacing the Satcom C4 satellite that currently orbits there.
Operated by SES AMERICOM, the satellite is to be joined by AMC-11 in May and has been designed for what the company is calling "next generation programming services," which includes high definition television offered under the brand name of HD-PRIME."SES AMERICOM pioneered the distribution of cable programming via satellite and we are reinforcing our leadership with this state of the art satellite," said Dean Olmstead, president and chief executive officer of SES AMERICOM.
Launch of AMC-10 atop the International Launch Services (ILS) marketed Atlas 2AS rocket took place at 6:46 p.m. EST (2346 GMT) from complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
Trouble with the booster's first stage pneumatic system threatened to scrub the countdown, but fast work by the Lockheed Martin launch team resulted in a blast off well within the launch window.
The 15-story rocket, its design descended from the original Atlas missile of the 1950s, flew an apparently perfect 28-minute satellite delivery mission, dropping off its payload right on target.
Continuing its perfect string of 27 successful launches, the Atlas 2AS is a stretched version of the Atlas rocket equipped with four solid-fueled boosters strapped to its first stage.
The high energy Centaur upper stage, with its twin RL-10 engines manufactured by Pratt & Whitney, features extendable nozzles that almost literally squeeze a little extra rocket power out of the engine in space.
Thursday's shot marked the 69th success for Atlas in a row since a 1993 failure. The launch also marked the 580th flight of an Atlas booster since 1957.
The next launch for ILS -- which markets both the Atlas and Russian Proton rockets -- is currently targeted for March 12 when an Atlas 3A rocket is to carry a Japanese communications satellite into orbit from Cape Canaveral.
Several more ILS Atlas and Proton launches are expected this year, including three more SES AMERICOM satellites that are part of the AMC series.
More from SPACE.com:
advertisement
