• 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 final tests
• Departure of the Odyssey Launch Platform
• Departure of the Sea Launch Commander
• Arrival at Equatorial Launch Site, countdown begins
• Second Arrival at Launch Site (January), new countdown begins
• Launch of the Thuraya-3 satellite (View from the ACS) (View from the launch platform)

Sea Launch carried live coverage of the Thuraya-3 mission via satellite, as well as streaming video on this website. Click here to watch the archived webcast.

Please click here to see our other available archived launch videos.

Boeing built the Thuraya satellites - the first in the GEM series of spacecraft - to provide a range of cellular-like voice and data services over a large geographic region. The innovative contract, signed just over 10 years ago, included the manufacture of three high-power geosynchronous satellites as well as integration with a ground segment and user handsets. The Thuraya ground segment includes terrestrial gateways plus a collocated network operations center and satellite control facility in the United Arab Emirates. The Primary Gateway in Sharjah, UAE, serves the entire coverage area and Thuraya plans to establish additional national gateways at other locations as necessary.

The Thuraya mobile communications system serves a region of 2.3 billion people, in the Middle East, North and Central Africa, Europe, Central Asia and the Indian subcontinent. Thuraya offers GSM-compatible mobile telephone services, transmitting and receiving calls through each satellite's 12.25-meter-aperture reflector. The satellites employ state-of-the-art on-board digital signal processing, creating a capacity with more than 500 spot beams that can be redirected on-orbit, allowing the Thuraya system to adapt to business demands in real time. Calls are routed directly from one handheld unit to another, or to a terrestrial network. The system has the capacity for 12,560 simultaneous voice circuits.

Thuraya began commercial operations in mid-2001, following Sea Launch's successful deployment of Thuraya 1 on October 20, 2000. Sea Launch successfully orbited Thuraya-2 on June 10, 2003. The 5,173 kg (11,381 lb) Thuraya-3 spacecraft is designed to to expand Thuraya's system capacity and coverage area.

The Thuraya Satellite Telecommunications Company, based in Abu Dhabi, UAE, has the world's largest subscriber base for satellite handheld services. The company offers cost-effective, satellite-based mobile telephone services to nearly one third of the globe. Through its dynamic dual mode handsets and satellite payphones, Thuraya enhances freedom of movement and connectivity. The regional mobile telecommunications via satellite (GMPCS) is helping to meet the need for affordable, high-quality mobile phone services to urban hubs as well as remote communities. Through a partnership with leading national telecom and mobile communications companies, Thuraya provides border-to-border coverage to more than 100 countries in Europe, the Middle East, North and Central Africa, Central and Southern Asia - a landmass populated by an estimated 2.3 billion people. Thuraya offers satellite, GSM (cellular) service and location determination system (GPS) in a single dual-mode handset that offers voice, data, fax and short messaging services. Thuraya's high degree of flexibility and convenience has changed the way people live and work; their day-to-day lifestyles and the manner in which they connect with business associates and customers, families and friends.

Lifting off from the Odyssey Launch Platform at 154 degrees West Longitude, a Zenit-3SL rocket placed the 5,173 kg (11,381 lb) Thuraya 3 satellite into Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit, with the spacecraft separating from the upper stage at 1,388 miles above the Pacific Ocean. The flight plan called for deployment into a 6.2 degree inclined orbit, an optimal orbital location for the Thuraya system.

Two-and-a-half minutes after liftoff, the first stage and then the payload fairing separated. Six minutes later, the second stage separated from the Block DM upper stage. After the first burn of the Block DM, the spacecraft coasted in a parking orbit for one hour, performing thermal maneuvers, such as a slow roll, to maintain a benign satellite environment. Following this coast, the Block DM burned a second time for about six minutes and then coasted again until spacecraft separation, over the Pacific Ocean, north of New Zealand. Boeing acquired a signal from the spacecraft at a ground station in Fillmore, California.

With a designed lifetime of 12.5 years, the satellite will be positioned in Geosynchronous Orbit, 35,786 km (22,236 miles) above the Earth, at 98.5 degrees East Longitude.