• Satellite Delivery to the Payload Processing Facility, Sea Launch Home Port
• Payload Rollout from the Payload Processing Facility to the Sea Launch Commander
• Rocket Transfer from the Ship to the Odyssey Launch Platform
• Rocket Rollout and Erection on launch pad for the final tests
• Departure of the Odyssey Launch Platform
• Departure of the Sea Launch Commander
• Arrival at Equatorial Launch Site, countdown begins
• Launch of JCSAT-9 satellite (wide view, from Sea Launch Commander) (close-up, from Odyssey)

Sea Launch carried live coverage of the launch via satellite, as well as streaming video on this website. Click here to view the archived webcast. Please click here to see our available archived launch videos.

Built by Lockheed Martin Commercial Space Systems (LMCSS), the 4401 kg (9703 lbs) JCSAT-9 spacecraft will provide satellite communications services for businesses throughout Asia. JCSAT-9 is a A2100-AX spacecraft, designed for a minimum service life of 12 years. It will be located at 132 degrees East Longitude. The high-power hybrid spacecraft carries C-band, Ku-band and S-band transponders.

JSAT Corporation is a leading satellite operator in the Asia-Pacific region. Based in Tokyo, the company owns and operates nine satellites in eight orbital slots, covering North America, Hawaii, Asia and Oceania. JSAT provides a range of services, including digital CS broadcasting service, SKY PerfecTV! Satellite TV broadcasting, video and data broadcasting services for corporate and inter-company networks, and international telecommunications services. 

Lockheed Martin Commercial Space Systems, based in Newtown, Pennsylvania, markets, designs and builds geostationary and non-geostationary telecommunications and remote sensing satellites for customers worldwide. It is an operating unit of Lockheed Martin Space Systems, a core business area of the Lockheed Martin Corporation.

From its equatorial launch site at 154 degrees West Longitude, a Zenit-3SL launch vehicle lifted the 4401 kg (9703 lbs) JCSAT-9 spacecraft to a high perigee geosynchronous transfer orbit, on its way to a final orbital position at 132 degrees East Longitude.

Lifting off from the Odyssey Launch Platform, a Zenit-3SL rocket began its ascent phase of flight. The first stage of the vehicle separated two-and-a-half minutes after liftoff, and the protective payload fairing was jettisoned less than a minute later. Following a six-minute burn, the second stage separated from the Block DM upper stage. The Block DM operated for nearly six minutes and then shutdown for a 33-minute coast period. The Block DM ignited a second time for a five-and-a-half minute burn. Following this burn, and another coast lasting nearly 10 minutes, the spacecraft separated from the Block DM, above the East Coast of Africa. A ground station in Uralla, Australia, acquired a signal from the spacecraft about 34 minutes after separation.