• Satellite Delivery to the Payload Processing Facility
• Payload Unit Transfer to the Sea Launch Commander
• Rocket Transfer from the Ship to the Odyssey Launch Platform
• Final Tests on the Launch Pad
• Departure of the Odyssey Launch Platform
• Departure of the Sea Launch Commander
• Arrival at the Launch Site, Countdown begins
• Launch of the DIRECTV 11 satellite (View from the Sea Launch Commander ) (View from the launch platform)

Sea Launch produced live coverage of the DIRECTV 11 mission via satellite, and streaming video on this website. DIRECTV also carried the program on Viewer Channel 573. Please click here to view our archived mission coverage.

Boeing delivered the DIRECTV 11 broadcast satellite to the Payload Processing Facility at Sea Launch Home Port in January 2008. The spacecraft team managed the process of testing, fueling and encapsulating the satellite in a payload fairing, in preparation for launch operations in March.

DIRECTV 11, with a mass of a 5923 kg (13,058 lb), is one of three recent Boeing 702-model spacecraft built for DIRECTV and is among the largest and most powerful Ka-band satellites built to date. The on-board technology of this direct-to-home satellite will enable DIRECTV to continue to expand its industry-leading lineup of quality high-definition television (HDTV) programming. DIRECTV 11, combined with the DIRECTV 10 satellite already in orbit, will provide DIRECTV with the capacity for 150 national HD channels and will be capable of supporting spot beams carrying 1,500 local HD channels.

DIRECTV 11 will continue DIRECTV's massive capacity expansion and further strengthen its position as the leading provider of HD programming in the United States. This is the fourth mission Sea Launch has successfully completed for DIRECTV. Previous satellites include Spaceway 1 (April 26, 2005), DIRECTV 7S (May 4, 2004) and DIRECTV 1R (October 9, 1999).

Lifting off from the Odyssey Launch Platform at 154 degrees West Longitude, a Zenit-3SL rocket placed the DIRECTV 11 satellite into Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit, with the spacecraft separating from the upper stage at 2130 km (1,323 miles) above the Indian Ocean.

Two-and-a-half minutes after liftoff, the first stage and then the payload fairing jettisoned. Five minutes later, the second stage separated from the Block DM upper stage. After the first burn of the Block DM, the spacecraft and the upper stage coasted for 30 minutes over the Pacific Ocean, South America and the Atlantic Ocean. Following this coast, the Block DM executed a second burn for about seven minutes and then coasted again for about ten minutes until spacecraft separation over the Indian Ocean. Boeing Satellite Systems acquired a signal from the spacecraft at a ground station in Hartebeesthoek, South Africa nearly six hours later.

With a designed lifetime of 15 years, the satellite will ultimately be positioned in Geostationary Orbit, 35,786 km (22,236 miles) above the Earth, at 99.2 degrees West Longitude.