CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Rising off its floating launch pad in the Pacific Ocean right on time Sunday morning, a modified Zenit rocket has begun a two-hour-long mission to place a cellular phone communications satellite into orbit.
The Sea Launch booster blasted off from the partially submerged converted oil drilling platform dubbed Odyssey at 9:49 a.m. EST (1449 GMT), lighting up a pre-dawn sky where the nearest land was 200 miles to the west.
The mostly Ukrainian-built rocket will take two hours, nine minutes and 21 seconds for it to complete its mission of using up all three liquid-fueled stages and arrive at the proper speed to place the satellite into its orbit some 6,500 miles (10,390 kilometers) high.
Riding atop the 209-foot-booster is an upgraded Hughes Space and Communications model HS 601 satellite that is the first of 12 planned in the constellation for ICO Global Communications LTD of London.
ICO hopes to compete in the still-emerging market of worldwide cellular telephone service provided with the help of communication satellites. But it s been tough going for ICO, which is trying to recover from declaring bankruptcy last August.
Assuming the launch will be a success, ICO will spend the next six months checking out their satellite and testing its capabilities, said company spokesman Joe Tedino.
Additional ICO launches are planned on Russian Proton, Boeing Delta 3 and Lockheed Martin Atlas 2AS rockets, Tedino said.
The Pacific Ocean blast off was the third major mission launched to Earth orbit during the past 11 hours. The two other missions included:
A Russian Krunichev Proton rocket carried the first of a new generation communications satellite into orbit overnight. Launch of the Express 6A satellite from the Kazakstan desert took place at 11:07 p.m. EST Saturday (0407 GMT Sunday).
The launch was closely watched by NASA officials as the inconstant Proton rocket is a key player in plans to launch the next major module to the International Space Station in July.
An Orbital Sciences Taurus rocket carried a U.S. Department of Energy research satellite into orbit early Sunday morning. Launch of the Multispectral Thermal Imager satellite from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., took place at 4:29 a.m. EST (0929 GMT). Officials report the satellite is in its proper orbit.
Upcoming major launches include a Russian Starsem Soyuz rocket targeted for launch March 20 and an Arianespace Ariane 5 rocket targeted for March 21. A Boeing Delta 2 rocket carrying a NASA payload is set to launch from California on March 25.
advertisement
