The 3,000-mile journey from Sea Launch Home Port, in the Port of Long Beach, will bring the vessels to a location south of Hawaii, at 154o West Longitude, where a 72-hour countdown will begin upon arrival. Once the platform is ballasted to launch depth, the team will perform final tests on the rocket and spacecraft, and prepare for launch. The 200-foot Sea Launch rocket will lift the 10,692 lb. (4850 kg) Galaxy IIIC satellite to geosynchronous transfer orbit.

Galaxy IIIC, a Boeing 702 communications satellite, will operate dual frequencies and includes 24 C-band transponders and 53 Ku-band transponders. When it becomes operational in its orbital position at 95o West Longitude, the spacecraft will provide widespread Internet, video, audio and data services to areas of the United States and Latin America.

Galaxy IIIC will be the second satellite Sea Launch has deployed for PanAmSat. The first was PAS-9, a Boeing 601 communication satellite, on July 28, 2000. Boeing Satellite Systems, the satellite manufacturing arm of Boeing Space and Communications and a unit of The Boeing Company [NYSE:BA], built both the Galaxy IIIC and PAS-9 spacecraft for PanAmSat.

PanAmSat Corporation, based in Wilton, Conn., is a leading provider of global video and data broadcasting services via satellite. The company builds, owns and operates networks that deliver entertainment and information to cable television systems, television broadcast affiliates, direct-to-home operators, Internet service providers, telecommunications companies and corporations.

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