According to the "Marine Start" program, the Russian-Ukrainian missile launch vehicle launched a communications satellite

The Russian-Ukrainian Zenit-3SL launch vehicle with the Eutelsat 3B communications satellite started on May 27-according to the Sea Start program, from the Odyssey floating platform, from the equatorial part of the Pacific Ocean.

“The launch of a launch vehicle equipped with a DM-SL acceleration unit was made at 01:10 Moscow time,” said the SEA Launch AG launch operator, Interfax reports.

After 8 minutes 30 seconds from Zenit, the orbital block was successfully separated as part of the acceleration block and communication satellite. Satellite orbit was formed as a result of two inclusions of the Accelerator motor installation.

At 02:10 Moscow time, the telecommunications satellite separated from the acceleration unit and was successfully taken to the calculated orbit, ITAR-TASS reports with reference to Roscosmos.

Initially, it was planned to carry out launch on April 16, but for technical reasons it had to be postponed. At the “dry” export to the starting position, technical comments on the installation of the rocket were recorded.

The previous launch under the Marine Start program was completed on February 1 last year. He turned out to be unsuccessful , and the launches of the Zenit launch vehicles were temporarily suspended. Today's start was the first this year under the Marine Start program and the first after an unsuccessful launch in February 2013.

On April 29 of the same year, the report of the SEA Launch AG company was published based on the results of the accident investigation, according to which its reason was the refusal of the on -board power source (BIM) of Ukrainian production. The report noted that there were no other causes of the accident.

After that, Zenit started once according to the "ground start" program - from the Baikonur cosmodrome.

The launches of the Zenit-3SL missiles are carried out by the international consortium "Sea Start", created in 1995. After the reorganization in 2010, 95% of the company's shares belong to Energia Overseas Limited (Eol) - the “granddaughter” of the rocket and space corporation (RSC) “Energia”, 3% - American Boeing, 2% - Norwegian Aker Solutions. SEA Launch AG headquarters is located in Nion (Switzerland).

The Zenit-3SL launch vehicle was created on the basis of a two-stage Zenit-2 launch vehicle Development of the South South "(Ukraine). The acceleration block of DM-SL was developed and produced in the RSC "Energia".

In total, the Consortium "Marine Start" performed 35 launches of the Zenit-3SL missiles with a floating platform in the Pacific, including 32 successful ones. Today's start has become the 36th launch of the consortium from the platform in the Pacific Ocean and the 33rd successful.

The Eutelsat 3B spacecraft was created by Airbus Defens and Space based on the Eurostar E3000 platform. The starting mass of the satellite is almost 6 tons, the point of standing in a geostationary orbit - 3 degrees of eastern longitude. It will provide communication services to users in Africa, in the Middle East, Central Asia and South America.