After a brief delay, Sea Launch successfully sent XM-4 into orbit yesterday as pictured above. There’s all sorts of technical details to peruse, such the satellite’s 15 year lifespan and 18 kilowatts of power, but my bottom line is: rocket launches are cool.
Sea Launch successfully completed the XM-4 Mission on October 30, 2006. A Sea Launch Zenit-3SL rocket lifted off from the Odyssey Launch Platform at 3:49pm PST (23:49 GMT). All phases of the flight profile performed as expected. The mission ended with spacecraft separation from the Block DM upper stage, placing the XM-4 communications satellite into a Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit. A ground station in Hartebeesthoek, South Africa, acquired the spacecraft signal shortly after spacecraft separation. All systems are operating nominally.