Sep 24 1981
From The Space Library
NASA launched SBS-B from the Eastern Space and Missile Center (ESMC) on a Delta at 7:09 p.m. EDT into a transfer orbit. Owned by Satellite Business Systems, Inc. (a consortium of IBM, Comsat General, and Aetna Insurance Company), the Hughes-built cylinder was second of four commercial communications satellites planned for launch by NASA at a fixed cost to SBS Inc. of $22 million. Called SBS 2 in orbit, the spin-stabilized communications satellite 660 centimeters high and 216 centimeters in diameter weighed 555 kilograms on station. It would be the first to offer routine commercial service in the K-band, 12-14 GHz. (NASA Release 81-130; NASA MOR 0-492-213-81-02 [prelaunch] Sept 21/81, [postlaunch] Jan 27182; NASA Dly Actv Rpt, Sept 25/81, 2)
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