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LONG BEACH - 01/03/04 - The Odyssey Launch Platform and the Sea Launch Commander have departed the Port of Long Beach for the launch of the Telstar 14/Estrela do Sul 1 communications satellite.

Built by Space Systems/Loral for Loral Skynet, the satellite is scheduled for launch aboard a Zenit-3SL vehicle, January 9, at the start of a two-hour launch window that will open at 8:02 pm PST.

The Sea Launch vessels are underway to the launch site on the Equator, where the launch team will initiate a 72-hour countdown, ballasting the Launch Platform to launch depth, and performing final tests on the rocket and spacecraft before the three-stage rocket lifts the 10,350 lb. craft to a geosynchronous transfer orbit , or GTO.
 
The launch is the first of three consecutive missions Sea Launch will execute for Space Systems/Loral in 2004.
 
Following the Telstar 14/Estrela do Sul 1 mission, Sea Launch is scheduled to launch a DIRECTV-7S satellite, followed by a Telstar-18 communications spacecraft.

The SS/L 1300 series spacecraft carries 41 Ku-band transponders with five unique and interconnecting coverage beams.
 
Half of the satellite's operations will be dedicated to Brazil, providing a dedicated Ku-band solution for the Brazilian marketplace. The satellite's remaining beams will cover the Americas and the North Atlantic Ocean, where Boeing's "Connexion" network will use the satellite to provide its Internet-to-aircraft service.

Space Systems/Loral is a subsidiary of Loral Space and Communications, designing and manufacturing communications satellites and satellite systems.

The company, based in the Bay Area community of Palo Alto, provides a range of related services that include mission control operations and procurement of launch services, and has an international base of commercial and governmental customers whose applications include broadband digital communications, direct-to-home broadcast, defense communications, environmental monitoring and air traffic control.

Sea Launch Company LLC is headquartered in Long Beach with its satellite launch services marketed through Boeing Launch Services.

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