Yesterday Sea Launch successfully launched a South Korean comm satellite.
South Korea's first dual-use commercial and military communications satellite is now in space after a successful blastoff from a floating platform in the central Pacific Ocean.The 22nd mission for Sea Launch's Zenit 3SL rocket began with a fiery liftoff from the Odyssey launch platform at 0327 GMT Tuesday (11:27 p.m. EDT Monday). Positioned along the Equator at 154 degrees West longitude, the former Norwegian oil-drilling rig was in a prime location for the three-stage rocket to receive a boost from Earth's faster rotation at such low latitudes.
It took just over an hour for the launcher to release the Koreasat 5 satellite in the targeted oval-shaped orbit stretching from a low point of about 1,800 miles to a high point of around 22,300 miles. Its inclination was zero degrees.
A few minutes after spacecraft separation, controllers in the Sea Launch command ship received word that an Italian ground station had heard the first radio signals from Koreasat 5, proving the 9,806-pound satellite was in good health following the harrowing ride to orbit.
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