• Satellite Arrives at Sea Launch Home Port
• Payload Transfers from Payload Processing to Rocket Integration
• Rocket Transfers from Integration to Launch Platform
• Rocket Rolls out to the Launch Pad for Final Tests
• Odyssey Launch Platform Departs
• Sea Launch Commander Departs
• Arrival at Equatorial Launch Site, Countdown Begins
• Launch of SICRAL 1B Satellite (View from the Sea Launch Commander) (View from the launch platform)

To watch our archived mission coverage, please click here.

The construction of the dual-use Italsat 3000 SICRAL 1B spacecraft involved Thales Alenia Space's Italian and French entities, with the spacecraft being built and tested in Cannes, France, and integrated in Turin, Italy. The Satellite Integration Center in Rome produced the payload, which includes one EHF/Ka band, three UHF-band and five active SHF-band transponders. SICRAL 1B will provide strategic and tactical communications services for the Italian armed forces, in Italy and abroad, as well as ensuring mobile communications with land, naval and air platforms. It will also support NATO forces with its UHF and SHF SATCOM capabilities. SICRAL 1B is designed to meet the evolving requirements of the Italian defense ministry and NATO, and will work in tandem with the first SICRAL satellite, SICRAL 1A, launched in 2001 as part of a new communications satellite system dedicated to national security. SICRAL 1B's design life extends from 2009 to 2021, and is expected to be joined by SICRAL 2 in 2012.

Telespazio, a Finmeccanica/Thales company, a joint venture between Finmeccanica (67%) and Thales (33%), is a world leader in satellite services, from the management of satellites to Earth observation services, and from satellite navigation to broadband multimedia telecommunications. Telespazio, a Finmeccanica/Thales company, has invested directly in the SICRAL 1B program, enabling it to use some of the satellite's transmission capacity and to offer communications services to NATO and the European defense market. The Rome-based company operates a network of four space centers and 25 sites globally. The Fucino Space Centre has more than 90 operational antennas and is the largest satellite telecommunications center in the world for civil use. Telespazio, a Finmeccanica/Thales company, also operates in France, through Telespazio, a Finmeccanica/Thales company, France - managing and maintaining ground infrastructure and offering value-added services - and in Germany, through Telespazio, a Finmeccanica/Thales company, Deutschland, which specializes in services for operators in the space sector. In addition, Telespazio, a Finmeccanica/Thales company, plays a leading role in reference markets, harnessing accumulated technological experience through its participation in major European space programs.

Thales Alenia Space was responsible for construction of the SICRAL 1B spacecraft as well as some of its ground-based segment. Thales Alenia Space, a Thales/Finmeccanica joint venture, is a European leader in satellite systems and a major player in orbital infrastructures, setting the global standard in solutions for space telecoms, radar and optical Earth observation, defense and security, and navigation and science. The company has design and manufacturing facilities in France, Italy, Spain and Belgium.

From its equatorial launch site at 154 degrees West Longitude, a Zenit-3SL launch vehicle inserted the 3,038 kg (6,697 lb) SICRAL 1B spacecraft to geosynchronous transfer orbit, on its way to its final orbital location at 11.8 degrees East Longitude. The first stage of the vehicle separated two-and-a-half minutes after liftoff and the protective payload fairing was jettisoned a minute later. After operating for six minutes, the second stage separated from the Block DM upper stage. The Block DM operated for an eight-and-a-half minute burn. Following a coast period of one hour and 18 minutes, the Block DM  burned a second time for three minutes. After the second burn, and another 10-minute coast, the spacecraft separated from the upper stage over central Africa. A ground station at Telespazio's Fucino Space Centre in Italy acquired the first signals from the SICRAL 1B satellite and confirmed its operational status.

• Even as the Sea Launch Commander is leaving port, activities get underway.
• The launch team settles down for one of several launch rehearsals.
• Sea Launch treats the Telespazio and Thales Alenia Space teams with a welcome dinner on the Sea Launch Commander.
• The vessels meet on their way to the launch site.
• Operations are underway at the launch site.
• The launch countdown begins...
• The rocket is rolled out and erected on the launch pad.
• Sea Launch monitors winds aloft by releasing weather balloons at specific intervals prior to launch.
• With the rocket erect, our photographer takes a spin on the helicopter to capture some beauty shots.