The three-stage Proton vehicle climbed through the atmosphere for nearly 10 minutes before sending the Breeze M upper stage and its satellite payload on to continue the 9-hour-11-minute mission. The Anik F3 satellite, built for Telesat Canada by EADS Astrium, separated from the Breeze M at 2:05 p.m. local time (4:05 a.m. today EDT, 08:05 today GMT).

This was the fourth ILS Proton launch for Telesat, which launched its Anik F1R satellite in 2005, as well as Nimiq 1 in 1999 and Nimiq 2 in 2002 on Proton.

"We thank Telesat for its continued confidence in ILS and in the Proton Breeze M," said ILS President Frank McKenna. "We know we have to deliver outstanding performance to earn repeat business. We look forward to launching with Telesat and Astrium in the future, including next year's scheduled mission for Nimiq 4."

The Anik F3 satellite uses an Astrium Eurostar 3000 bus, and is the sixth of this model to be launched by Proton. The Nimiq 4 spacecraft also is a Eurostar 3000. ILS also has launched two Eurostar 2000 models.

"We are grateful to both ILS and Astrium for their flawless execution of this important mission for Telesat," said Dan Goldberg, Telesat's President and CEO. "We deeply value our association with these two premier organizations and look forward to joining with them in Baikonur next year for the launch of our Nimiq 4 satellite."

"This is a major event for Astrium. We mobilized our expert teams right across Europe to ensure the success of this mission," said Antoine Bouvier, CEO of Astrium Satellites. "The excellent teamwork developed with ILS and Telesat personnel has been crucial to this success."

Today's mission was the 40th ILS Proton launch. ILS is a U.S.-Russian joint venture that has exclusive worldwide rights to market commercial satellite launches on the Proton launcher, workhorse of the Russian space program. ILS also provides mission management. The major joint venture partners are Space Transport Inc., a privately held company, and Proton builder Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center of Moscow.

With today's launch, the Proton vehicle has carried out 325 missions for the Russian government and commercial customers over more than 40 years.

ILS is incorporated in Delaware in the United States, and is headquartered in McLean, Va., a suburb of Washington, D.C.

earlier related report
Telesat launches state-of-the-art satellite
Telesat, one of the world's leading satellite operators, has successfully launched its state-of-the-art Anik F3 satellite. Anik F3 will provide valuable broadcasting and telecommunications capacity and business communications throughout North America and also carry a Ka-band payload to supplement services now being carried on the Anik F2 satellite.

"We are delighted with the successful launch of Anik F3, a state-of-the-art satellite that allows us to meet our customers' important broadcast and communications requirements throughout North America," said Dan Goldberg, Telesat's president and CEO. "Anik F3 will make substantial financial and operational contributions to Telesat going forward and underscores our dedication to growing our business and providing robust and reliable satellite services to citizens throughout Canada and the rest of North America."

Anik F3 was launched on the Proton / Breeze M rocket from Baikonur Cosmodrome in the Republic of Kazakhstan at 4:54 a.m. local time. The satellite separated from the upper stage of the rocket and its signal was acquired by Telesat's tracking station in Perth, Australia just over nine hours later.

Manufactured by EADS Astrium, Telesat's Anik F3 is the company's second European-built satellite. International Launch Services (ILS) provided mission management. Anik F3 represents Telesat's seventeenth successful satellite launch and its fourth with ILS.

Telesat will officially take possession of Anik F3 after the satellite has successfully completed comprehensive in-orbit testing. The satellite is equipped with 32 Ku-band transponders, 24 C-band transponders, and a small Ka-band payload. The spacecraft has a launch mass of approximately 4634 kg, a solar array span of 36 metres once deployed in orbit, and spacecraft power of 10 kW at end of life. Anik F3 has an estimated mission life of 15 years.

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Related Links
International Launch Services
Launch Pad at Space-Travel.com

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