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NATO satellite launched on Russian-Ukrainian rocket

by Staff Writers
Moscow (AFP) April 20, 2009
A NATO communications satellite was launched into orbit Monday aboard a Russian-Ukrainian rocket from a floating platform in the Pacific Ocean, space officials said.

"The SICRAL 1B satellite was launched at 0816 GMT and successfully placed into orbit," a spokeswoman for the Russian mission control centre outside Moscow, Irina Manshilina, told AFP.

The satellite was launched aboard a Russian-Ukrainian Zenit 3SL rocket from the Odyssey platform in the Pacific Ocean, which is operated by Sea Launch, a US-Russia-Norwegian-Ukrainian joint venture 40 percent owned by Boeing.

It "is designed to provide communications services for the Italian Ministry of Defence, NATO and allied nations," Sea Launch said in a statement.

The satellite was built for the Italian defence ministry by the French-Italian firm Thales Aleni

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Sea Launch Counts Down To SICRAL 1B Launch
Long Beach, CA (SPX) Apr 17, 2009
The Sea Launch team is initiating a 72-hour countdown at its equatorial launch site, in preparation for the launch of Telespazio's SICRAL 1B communications satellite on April 20. Liftoff is planned at 01:16 am PDT (8:16 GMT), at the opening of a 57-minute launch window.







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