Following operations in the Payload Processing Facility - where the spacecraft is tested, fueled and encapsulated in a payload fairing - the Payload Unit is then transferred to the assembly hall of the Sea Launch
Commander, where it is mated with the Block DM upper stage of the Zenit-3SL rocket.

Members of the spacecraft team pause for a moment to commemorate the completion of payload processing. They are (L-R) Joe Pulkowski, Launch Systems Integration Manager, Lockheed Martin Commercial Space Systems; Noriko Masuda, Deputy General Manager Planning & Coordination Division, JSAT Corporation; and Jim Buckley, JCSat-9 Program Manager, Lockheed Martin Commercial Space Systems.

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