MOSCOW. May 23 (Interfax-AVN) - The U.S. telecom satellite Intelsat 18 will be launched from the Baikonur spaceport under the Land Launch program at the end of summer or the beginning of fall 2011, a source in the aerospace industry told Interfax-AVN on Monday.
"The problem of a missing Zenit rocket for launching Intelsat 18 has been resolved. The satellite will be launched with a rocket built for the Sea Launch program," he said.
The Dnipropetrovsk Yuzhmash plant has four Zenit rockets ready. "It was planned initially to send two rockets to Baikonur for launching Spectrum-R satellite in July and Phobos Grunt in November, and the other two rockets to the United States for launching Atlantic Bird 7 in September and Intelsat 19 in December under the Sea Launch program from the floating platform in the Pacific," he said.
However, it was necessary to launch Intelsat 18, as well. "The Energia Aerospace Corporation asked the Federal Space Agency to assign the rocket built for Spectrum-R for launching Intelsat 18. It was decided in the end to launch Intelsat 18 with the rocket meant for Intelsat 19," he said.
"If the Zenit rocket is delivered to Baikonur in July, as planned, it will be possible to launch Intelsat 18 in August or September," he said.
The media reported fierce rivalry for Zenit rockets, which had been in short supply. Zenit rockets carry satellites to orbit from the Sea Launch platform in the Pacific and from Baikonur under the Land Launch program and the Russian federal space program.