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EchoStar Chooses ILS to Launch Two Satellites
By Stew Magnuson
Spacenews.com Staff Writer
posted: 12:26 pm ET
05 February 2001
ET
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WASHINGTON International Launch Services (ILS), McLean, Va WASHINGTON International Launch Services (ILS), McLean, Virginia, will launch two direct-to-home television satellites for EchoStar Communications Corp. under a new contract, the companies announced in separate statements Feb. 5. ILS will launch EchoStar 7 in the fourth quarter of this year aboard a Lockheed Martin Atlas 3 rocket, and EchoStar 8 in the first quarter of 2002 on a Russian Proton rocket. The missions will launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida and the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, respectively.ILS is a joint venture of Lockheed Martin Corp. [LMT], Bethesda, Maryland; Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center, Moscow; and Rocket System Corporation Energia of Korolev, Russia. The venture offers launches on Russia's Proton and Lockheed Martin's Atlas-series rockets. Littleton, Colorado-based EchoStar, which broadcasts under the DISH Network brand name, will not disclose the terms of the contract, EchoStar spokesman Marc Lumpkin told Spacenews.com.The newly announced contract includes options for additional launches, although Lumpkin declined to be specific. EchoStar 7, built by Lockheed Martin Commercial Space Systems, Sunnyvale, California, will be placed at 119 degrees west longitude over the eastern Pacific Ocean. EchoStar 8, being built by from Space Systems/Loral [LOR], Palo Alto, California, will be placed nearby at 110 degrees west longitude. Both spacecraft will deliver television programming to U.S. markets.ILS spokeswoman Michelle Lyle could not be reached for comment.
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