"The SICRAL 1B satellite was launched at 0816 GMT and successfully placed into orbit," a spokeswoman for the Russian mission control centre outside Moscow, Irina Manshilina, told AFP.

The satellite was launched aboard a Russian-Ukrainian Zenit 3SL rocket from the Odyssey platform in the Pacific Ocean, which is operated by Sea Launch, a US-Russia-Norwegian-Ukrainian joint venture 40 percent owned by Boeing.

It "is designed to provide communications services for the Italian Ministry of Defence, NATO and allied nations," Sea Launch said in a statement.

The satellite was built for the Italian defence ministry by the French-Italian firm Thales Aleni

Related Links
Launch Pad at Space-Travel.com

Long Beach, CA (SPX) Apr 17, 2009
The Sea Launch team is initiating a 72-hour countdown at its equatorial launch site, in preparation for the launch of Telespazio's SICRAL 1B communications satellite on April 20. Liftoff is planned at 01:16 am PDT (8:16 GMT), at the opening of a 57-minute launch window.

The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright Space.TV Corporation. AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space.TV Corp on any Web page published or hosted by Space.TV Corp. Privacy Statement