In a spectacular evening launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., the first Delta IV rocket successfully delivered a commercial telecommunications satellite W5 for Eutelsat S.A.

Boeing’s newest rocket lifted off at 5:39 p.m. EST on Nov. 20 and deployed the W5 spacecraft to a geosynchronous transfer orbit with a perigee of 539 kilometers above the Earth.

The rocket was a Medium+ (4,2) configuration of the five-member Delta IV family. The Medium+ category features the Boeing Common Booster Core first stage, powered by the Boeing Rocketdyne RS-68 main engine; two Alliant Techsystems strap-on solid rocket motors; the flight proven Pratt & Whitney RL10B-2 upper stage engine, and a four-meter Boeing composite payload fairing.

“We have successfully demonstrated the new Delta IV vehicle, and it will have a major impact on the world launch market,” said Gale Schluter, vice president and general manager, Boeing Expendable Launch Systems. “I feel very proud to be a part of it, and I congratulate our Eutelsat customers on a successful deployment.”

Eutelsat’s W5 spacecraft, built by Alcatel Space, will serve a wide range of telecommunications users and service providers for video distribution and contribution links, occasional-use video, particularly Satellite News Gathering as well as Internet backbone connections. W5’s coverage will enable Eutelsat to increase its market presence in Asia as far as the Pacific.

The next Delta IV launch, planned for early 2003, is the first mission for the U.S. Air Force Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle program. A Delta IV Medium rocket will deploy DSCS III A3, a satellite for the Defense Satellite Communication System.

Boeing plans to launch up to five Delta IV missions in 2003. The first launch will be from Space Launch Complex 6 at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif.