Mar 11 2005
From The Space Library
International Launch Services (ILS) successfully launched the European satellite Inmarsat 4-F1 from Cape Canaveral, Florida, aboard a stretched version of the Atlas 5 rocket. Weighing 13,138 pounds (5,959 kilograms or 5.96 tonnes), the EADS Astrium-built Inmarsat 4 was the largest commercial satellite ever to launch. As part of a three-satellite constellation comprising the new Broadband Global Area Network, the spacecraft would provide wireless, broadband connections to ships, planes, and remote areas that had not previously had reliable access to ground-based, high-speed networks. (Spacewarn Bulletin, no. 617, 1 April 2005, http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/spacewarn/spx617.html (accessed 31 August 2009); Associated Press, “Atlas 5 Rocket Hauls Satellite into Space,” 12 March 2005.)
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