• 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 Koreasat 5 satellite (wide view, from Sea Launch Commander) (close-up, from Odyssey)

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

Built by Alcatel Alenia Space in Cannes, France, this new generation Spacebus 4000 C1 platform is fitted with the Avionique 4000 avionics system and accommodates 36 transponders in multi-band frequencies to meet its multi-mission objectives. A hybrid spacecraft designed for a 15-year service life, Koreasat 5 is owned jointly by the Agency for Defense Development of Korea and KT Corporation. It will be located in geostationary orbit at 113 degrees East Longitude as part of South Korea’s new high-capacity Spacecom System.

The Agency for Defense Development has managed the military side of the Koreasat 5 program and the Joint Chief of Staff of Korean Armed Forces will operate the SHF and Ka band transponders on the spacecraft to provide satellite communications services. Based in Daejon (about 120 miles south of Seoul), the Agency for Defense Development (ADD) was established in 1970 and is the sole national agency for R&D in defense technology. This agency contributes to enforcing national defense, improving the national R&D capacity and fostering domestic industry.

KT Corporation will operate 24 Ku band transponders. Half of these will be switched to regional beams to provide advanced broadband multimedia and digital television transmission services, as well as conventional telecom services to operators in the Asia-Pacific region. The remaining 12 Ku band transponders will replace Koreasat 2 capacity for domestic use in South Korea. Based in Seoul, KT Corporation (KT) was established in 1981 by the Korean Government and later privatized as a public corporation in 2002. The KT vision - The Value Networking Company - embodies a strong commitment to maximizing customer value and pursuing corporate growth by optimizing customized solution offerings.

In addition to building this state-of-the-art spacecraft, Alcatel Alenia Space, based in France, is also providing the ground control system to both KT and ADD, as well as Launch and Early Orbit Phase, and in-orbit tests. Alcatel Alenia Space is the European leader in satellite systems, at the forefront of orbit infrastructures. Created in July 2005, the company brings together the vast experience and know-how of Alcatel Space and Alenia Spazio to form a new leading force in European space technology. It represents a worldwide standard for space development, from navigation to telecommunications, from meteorology to environmental monitoring, from defense to science and observation.

From its equatorial launch site at 154 degrees West Longitude, a Zenit-3SL launch vehicle lifted the 4448 kg (9,806 lb) Koreasat 5 spacecraft to geosynchronous transfer orbit, on its way to a final orbital position at 113 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 75 seconds later. Following a six-minute burn, the second stage separated from the Block DM upper stage. The Block DM began an eight-and-a-half minute operation and then shutdown for a 34-minute coast period. The Block DM burned a second time for three minutes. Following this second burn, and another 10-and-a-half minute coast, the spacecraft separated from the upper stage over the coast of Gabon, in Africa. A ground station at Fucino, Italy, acquired the first signal from the spacecraft a few minutes after spacecraft separation.