From its equatorial launch site at 154 degrees West Longitude, the Sea Launch rocket lifted Loral's Telstar 14/Estrela do Sul 1 satellite to a lofted 760 km perigee geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO), on its way to a final orbital position at 63 degrees West Longitude. The spacecraft carries 41 Ku-band transponders with five unique and interconnecting coverage beams.

Once operational, fifty percent of the satellite's power will be focused on coverage over Brazil, providing a dedicated Ku-band solution for the Brazilian marketplace. The satellite's other beams will cover the Americas and the North Atlantic Ocean, where Connexion by Boeing(tm) will use the satellite to provide its Internet-to-aircraft service. While it is designed for a 15-year lifespan, Sea Launch's direct insertion into equatorial orbit is expected to yield several additional years of service.

Built by Space Systems/Loral (SS/L), Telstar 14/Estrela do Sul 1 will be operated by Skynet do Brasil. SS/L is a premier designer, manufacturer and integrator of powerful satellites and satellite systems and also provides a range of related services that include mission control operations and procurement of launch services. Based in Palo Alto, Calif., the company has an international base of commercial and governmental customers whose applications include broadband digital communications, direct-to-home broadcast, defense communications, environmental monitoring and air traffic control.

Loral Skynet do Brasil, Ltd., is the first private Brazilian satellite company to offer Ku-band satellite services and was formed primarily to address opportunities in the fixed satellite services market in Brazil and South America. The company has a ground station in Rio de Janeiro that will provide tracking, telemetry, and control and access management from in-country technical staff.

The Sea Launch team placed the Telstar 14/Estrela do Sul 1 satellite into a high perigee geosynchronous transfer orbit, with the spacecraft separating from the upper stage over the Indian Ocean. Two-and-a-half minutes after liftoff, the first stage of the Zenit-3SL vehicle separated and the payload fairing jettisoned. About six minutes later, the second stage separated from the Block DM-SL upper stage. After the first burn of the Block DM-SL, the spacecraft coasted for 36 minutes. Following this coast period, the Block DM-SL made a second burn and then separated from the spacecraft 10 minutes later. A ground station in Gnangara, Australia, acquired the first signal from the spacecraft 68 minutes after liftoff. This mission used a standard GTO trajectory, which places the payload into a higher energy state. After the payload circularizes itself at geosynchronous orbit altitude, the spacecraft performs a series of maneuvers over several days to place the spacecraft into its final position in geostationary orbit at 63 degrees West Longitude, over Brazil.