On Saturday, Sea Launch successfully deployed the Telstar 14/Estrela do Sul 1 communications satellite into orbit. A Zenit-3SL rocket lifted off at 8:13 p.m. PDT from the Odyssey Launch Platform, positioned at 154 degrees West Longitude, on the equator. The Block DM-SL upper stage inserted the 4,694 kilogram (10,350 pound) spacecraft into a high perigee geosynchronous transfer orbit. The spacecraft’s final orbital position will be 63 degrees West Longitude. Sea Launch is a joint venture of Boeing [NYSE: BA], Russia’s RSC Energia, Norway’s Kvaerner, and Ukraine’s SDO Yuzhnoye/PO Yuzhmash.

The Telstar 14/Estrela do Sul 1 satellite was built by Space Systems/Loral and will be operated by Loral Skynet do Brasil. The spacecraft carries 41 Ku-band transponders with five interconnecting coverage beams. The satellite will serve markets such as broadcast video and cable programming, Internet backbone connectivity, VSAT data and other telecommunications services. More than fifty percent of the satellite’s power will be focused on Brazil. The satellite’s other beams will cover the Americas and the North Atlantic Ocean, where Connexion by Boeing will use the satellite to support its Internet-to-aircraft service.