Futron Corp. ranked International Launch Service‘s (ILS) Atlas V and Proton launch vehicles first and second, respectively, in its just-released Best Launch Service Study And Analysis report, based on interviews with nine satellite industry executives between June and August who were responsible for more than half of all geostationary commercial payloads launched since 2000. The Atlas V launcher ranked Number One in three of four categories (overall reliability, overall performance flexibility and overall customer service) used to determine the overall ranking of the launchers examined in the study. Futron disclosed in its study that the research underlying the report was sponsored by Lockheed Martin [LMT], a partner in ILS, but the group added the analysis and conclusions were developed by Futron.