Satnews Daily
February 18th, 2013

International Launch Services (ILS)... Going For March 27th... (Launch)


[SatNews] Satélites Mexicanos, S.A. de C.V. (“Satmex”) and International Launch Services (ILS) announced...

...the ILS Proton launch date for its C- and Ku- band satellite, Satmex 8, has been scheduled for March 27th (March 26 EST), 2013 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. The deployment of Satmex 8 is expected to facilitate a timely and seamless transition of customers from Satmex 5 to the new satellite.

The Satmex 8 launch, previously planned for December 28, 2012, was postponed due to an anomaly experienced by the Proton Breeze M launch vehicle on December 8, 2012. As part of the return to flight process, Satmex participated in the ILS Failure Review Oversight Board (FROB) review which recently concluded. The required corrective actions to prevent future recurrence of the anomaly have been started and are on schedule to support the new launch date.