HUGHES SPACE AND COMMUNICATIONS COMPANY
Communications and Customer Relations
P.O. Box 92919 (S10/S323)
Los Angeles, CA 90009
(310) 364-6363
www.hughespace.com		 HSC Logo


ASTRA 1G SUCCESSFULLY LAUNCHED

BAIKONUR COSMODROME, Kazakhstan, Dec. 3, 1997 -- Astra 1G, the fifth Hughes-built satellite for Société Européenne des Satellites (SES) of Luxembourg, was successfully launched early this morning. This was the seventh launch of the year for a spacecraft built by Hughes Space and Communications Company.

Liftoff was at 4:11 a.m. Dec. 3 local time (3:11 p.m. Dec. 2 in Los Angeles, 11:11 p.m. Dec. 2 GMT) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan aboard a Proton rocket. The spacecraft separated from the launch vehicle nearly seven hours later. About 6:52 a.m local time satellite controllers received signals from Astra 1G, indicating systems are operating normally.

Astra 1G is the second HS 601HP (for high-power) satellite to be launched by Hughes, and the 37th HS 601. The spacecraft features 7 kilowatts of power, made possible through the use of state-of-the-art gallium arsenide solar cells. These cells, developed by another unit of Hughes Electronics, Spectrolab, Inc., are nearly one-and-a-half times more efficient than traditional silicon solar cells.

Astra 1G will join SES's existing satellite fleet to expand television, radio and multi-media services throughout Europe. The spacecraft features 32 active transponders during its first five years of operation, with 28 thereafter, operating in the Broadcast Satellite Service and Fixed Satellite Service frequency bands, powered by 98-watt traveling wave tube amplifiers. As with the other Astra satellites, SES will be able to change the transponders' transmission frequencies in orbit to accommodate new programming or to back up the other satellites. Astra 1G also has an advanced antenna design, using two large lightweight reflectors featuring Hughes' contoured-surface technology. The satellite will be stationed at 19.2 degrees East longitude and will have a service life of 15 years.

A unit of Hughes Electronics Corporation, Hughes Space and Communications Company is the world's leading manufacturer of commercial communications satellites and is also a major supplier of spacecraft and scientific instruments to the U.S. government, and builder of weather satellites for the United States and Japan.

The earnings of Hughes Electronics are used to calculate the earnings per share attributable to GMH (NYSE symbol) common stock.

###