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Eutelsat 3B is taken to target orbit

The launch was made at 01:10 Moscow time from the Odysseys floating pad in the Pacific Ocean

© ITAR-TASS/Viktor Kataev

MOSCOW, May 27/ITAR-TASS/. Eutelsat 3B telecommunication satellite, launched with Zenit-3SL carrier under the Sea Launch programme, has been taken to the target orbit, the Russian Space Agency reports on Tuesday.

“In about eight minutes after the start, the booster has separated from the carrier to take the satellite to the target orbit,” the Russian Space Agency told Itar-Tass on Tuesday.

The launch was made at 01:10 Moscow time from the Odysseys floating pad in the Pacific Ocean.

The rocket Zenit-3SL consists of the stages of the booster Zenit-2S, made by the Ukrainian design bureau Yuzhmash (Dnepropetrovsk), and the DM-SL booster, made by Russia's space rocket corporation Energia.

The Eutelsat spacecraft is based on the Eurostar E3000 platform. It is made by the the Airbus Defence and Space Company and is designed for operation in the commercial C, Ku, and Ka ranges. The satellite will make it possible to diversify services being rendered to Internet providers, government agencies, and transmitting stations which operate in Latin America, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Central Asia. The designed life of the Eutelsat-3B is more than 15 years.

This is the first-ever commercial international project for the development and operation of a sea-launch space rocket complex. The Company and a floating space-launch platform were brought into being with a view to implementing the idea of launching space rockets from the equator. Thirty-five launches of Zenit-3SL rockets were carried out under the Sea Launch programme, all in all, with 32 of them being successful.

The launch on Tuesday was the first one under the Sea Launch programme and the first one after the failure launch in February 2013. It was the Sea Launch’s 36th launch from the pad in the Pacific Ocean and the 33rd successful one.

Originally, the launch was planned for April 16. However, due to technical reasons, the launch had to be postponed. During a "dry" conveyance to the launch position, technical notes concerning the erection of the rocket were recorded.

The Sea Launch multinational company was founded in 1995 with the participation of the American Boeing Company, Russia's space rocket corporation Energia, the Norwegian Kvaerner Company, and Ukraine's enterprises such as Yuzhnoye (southern) and Yuzhmash (southern engineering) design bureaus.

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