ST. LOUIS, March 16, 2005 -- Technicians ready DIRECTV's Spaceway F1 satellite for shipment to Sea Launch home port in Long Beach, Calif., where it is undergoing final preparations for its launch aboard a Zenit-3SL vehicle.
Built on the powerful Boeing 702 model satellite, Spaceway F1 is the first of two spacecraft scheduled for launch this year for DIRECTV. It is the most complex commercial satellite system ever manufactured. The spacecraft includes a flexible payload with a fully steerable downlink antenna that can be reconfigured on orbit to seamlessly address market conditions.
