OREANDA-NEWS. April 21, 2009. Early this morning, the Sea Launch Company successfully launched Telespazio`s SICRAL 1B communications satellite from its equatorial launch site. This event marks Sea Launch`s 30th mission from sea, since operations began in March 1999.
  
On today`s mission, a Zenit-3SL vehicle lifted off at 1:16 am PDT (08:16 GMT) from the Odyssey Launch Platform, positioned at 154 degrees West Longitude. Less than two hours later, the Block DM-SL upper stage inserted the 3,038 kg (6,697 lb) SICRAL 1B satellite into a high perigee geosynchronous transfer orbit. Telespazio`s operators at the Fucino Space Center in Italy acquired the spacecraft`s first signals from orbit during flight operations and confirmed the health of the spacecraft shortly after its separation from the Block DM upper stage. Based on preliminary data, all Sea Launch system flight parameters were nominal and injection accuracy was excellent.