Intelsat 10-02

Launch data: Designation  28358 / 04022A Launch date  16 Jun 2004 - 22:27 UT Launch site  Baikonur, LC200/39 Launch vehicle  Proton-M/Briz-M (S/N: 535-06) Mission  Comms Geostationary orbit on 8 July: Perigee / Apogee  35774 / 35810 km Inclination  0.15° Period  1436.37 min

Mission details:

• The Intelsat 10-02 satellite lifted off from the steppes of Kazakhstan at 2227 GMT (6:27 p.m. EDT) for a 9-hour trip to geosynchronous transfer orbit in a mission managed by the commercial firm International Launch Services. ILS markets Protons and American Atlas rockets.
• The Proton's lower three stages released the satellite and attached Breeze M upper stage motor on a suborbital trajectory 9 minutes into flight. The Breeze M then fired for 7 minutes to achieve a low-altitude parking orbit around Earth.
• Over the next several hours, the Breeze motor conducted four additional engine burns to slowly nudge the 12,300-pound Intelsat spacecraft into an egg-shaped orbit stretching from 22,267 miles at its highest point to 2,543 miles at its lowest.
• Deployment of the satellite from the launcher occurred about 9-hours and 10-minutes after liftoff, completing the second ILS Proton mission this year and 29th since the commercial program's inception in the mid-1990s.
• The satellite will propel itself into a circular orbit 22,300 miles above the equator, reaching a parking spot at 1-degree West longitude where it will match Earth's rotation and appear fixed in the sky.