Patiently waiting in the penthouse of a 19-story Atlas V, the Intelsat 14 satellite’s launch vehicle was rolled out to Launch Complex 41 this morning, defying threats of residual winds from Hurricane Ida.The 12:48 a.m. EST Saturday launch event will lift the Intelsat 14 to a geostationary transfer orbit and will, following the completion of in-orbit testing, serve customers throughout the Americas, Europe and Africa from 315 degrees East.
Customers have started arriving in Cocoa Beach for this evening’s welcome reception while the Intelsat, Lockheed Martin and Space Systems/Loral technical teams conduct a battery of pre-launch tests. Anticipation is high…the Intelsat 14 will soon be higher!
Of historical interest, Intelsat’s first satellite, Early Bird, the world’s first commercial communications satellite was launched from Cape Canaveral’s Launch Complex 17A. Saturday’s launch of Intelsat’s newest satellite, the Intelsat 14, will be conducted from Launch Complex 41, which is north of Early Bird’s launch pad and immediately south of NASA’s space shuttle launch sites.
1 comments:
Was going to point out that they lost communication with Early Bird shortly after launch, but then realized that was Early Bird 1. Best of luck to everyone involved. Just arrived from Western NY this evening to hopefully watch Intelsat 14 and STS-129 this weekend.
Also its Biker bash at Cocoa Beach this weekend! Hooray!
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