One missile was launched from Kazakhstan and the other from Kif Canaveral
International Launch Services (ILS) experienced two launches on Thursday, February 3, 2005 at the world's two largest spaceports. A Proton-Breeze M rocket took off from Baikonur in Kazakhstan carrying the AMC-12 communication satellite for the SES AMERICOM company and which will provide communication services to America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa. At Cape Canaveral in Florida, an Atlas 3 missile was launched, carrying a classified payload for the US intelligence service. The two launches took place five hours and twenty minutes apart.
ILS is a joint venture of Lockheed-Martin from the USA and Khronichev from Russia and markets the services of both manufacturers for missions, and manages the missions. These two launches were the first in a busy year for ILD. "No one else can do this," said ILS president Mark Albrecht. "The cornerstone of ILS is the ability to offer two independent launchers, operating from independent launch sites, and this allows us to serve two customers at the same time.
The first launch, of the communication satellite, took place in Kazakhstan at 02:27 GMT. Due to Baikonur's distance from the equator, the satellite separated from the last stage of the launcher after nine hours and 19 minutes, and began to make its way to a higher orbit. The satellite, AMC-12 is expected to start providing service in April as mentioned to America, ID, Africa and Europe. The satellite was manufactured by the French company Alcatel-Space.
An Atlas-3 missile named AC-206 then took off from Launch 36B at Cape Canaveral at 07:41 GMT, as stated with a classified account for the National Reconnaissance Office. The satellite entered its orbit 79 minutes later. Except for the name of the satellite NROL-23, no further details were given.
"What an achievement," Albrecht said. "We've had follow-up missions in the past but not this close and it's an exciting challenge, especially for those watching from ILS headquarters. The teams in the field naturally concentrate each one on the success of his mission. This dual capability allows the ILS a stable rate of launches, Albrecht says.
The launches set several records for ILS including:
• Shortest time between successive launches: five hours and 14 minutes (the previous record was 7 hours and 10 minutes on August 21-22, 2002, and 9 hours and 12 minutes on June 30/July 1, 2000.
• The 75th consecutive successful launch of Atlas missiles.
• The last launch of Atlas 3, the second missile in the Atlas family to achieve 100 percent success during its lifetime.
• Fifth consecutive launch in 12 months for one customer – SAS AMERICOM (AMC-10 using Atlas on February 5, 2004, AMC-11 on Atlas on May 19, 2004, AMC-15 on Proton on October 15, 2004, AMC -16 on Atlas on December 16, 2004, and as mentioned AMC-12 on Proton on February 3, 2005.
The next ILS launch is expected from Cape Canaveral in March. This is the launch of an Atlas 5 rocket that will carry the Inmarsat 4-F1 communication satellite. Another Atlas 5 rocket will launch the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter photography satellite for NASA in August. The Proton missions planned for the rest of the year include communication satellites for the companies DIRECTV, MEASAT, Telesat Canada, SES AMERICOM, SES GLOBAL and Arab-Sat.
In 2004, the company launched ten satellites - six in Atlas and four in Proton. The Russian government has also used Proton missiles for four missions. In total, the company has launched 72 missions since 2000, and both rockets have provided great success, an attractive feature for satellite operators worldwide. Since the beginning of 2003, ILS has signed more agreements for new launches than all of its competitors combined, including Ariane.
ILS was founded in 1995 and is based in McLean, Virginia, a suburb of Washington, DC.
