Sea Launch LLC delivered DirecTV‘s Spaceway F1 satellite to orbit April 26, Sea Launch said.

A Zenit-3SL delivered the satellite, the heaviest commercial satellite launched to date at 6,080 kg. into a geosynchronous transfer orbit after its 3:31:30 a.m. EDT liftoff. A ground station in South Africa acquired the spacecraft’s first signal less than one hour after liftoff, according to Sea Launch officials.

Spaceway F1 is the first of two Ka-band satellites DirecTV plans to launch this year, enabling the direct-to-home satellite television services provider to broadcast local high-definition (HD) channels throughout several of the nation’s largest markets. DirecTV said it would launch Spaceway F2 in June, also aboard a Sea Launch Zenit-3SL, and the DirecTV 10 and 11 spacecraft in 2007. Together, these four satellites will enable DirecTV to broadcast more than 1,500 local and more than 150 national HD channels.

“With Spaceway F1’s successful launch, we enter a new era that will see the most dramatic programming rollout in our history, with plans to offer local digital and HD programming to every U.S. household,” DirecTV Inc. President and CEO Chase Carey said in a statement.