International
Launch
Services
(ILS)
and Eutelsat
Announce New
Launch
Contract
15 May 2013
International
Launch
Services
(ILS) and
Eutelsat, of
Paris,
France, one
of the
world’s
leading
satellite
operators,
announced a
contract
today for
the launch
of a
Eutelsat
satellite in
the
2014-2016
timeframe by
ILS Proton
from the
Baikonur
Cosmodrome
in
Kazakhstan.
This
announcement
follows the
successful
Proton
launch of
the Eutelsat
3D satellite
on May 15.
The Proton
vehicle is
Russia’s premier
heavy-lift
launcher, with a
history of 386
launches since
1965. The Proton
launch vehicle
is built by
Khrunichev
Research and
Production Space
Center, the
majority
shareholder of
ILS and one of
the pillars of
the space
industry.
Phil Slack,
president of ILS
said, “With this
launch, Eutelsat
is relying on
performance of
the Proton
vehicle just as
we demonstrated
with yesterday’s
successful
launch of the
Eutelsat 3D
satellite. We
now have seven
launches to date
for Eutelsat
over our 13 year
partnership. ILS
and Khrunichev
are looking
forward to
delivering on
our commitments
for Eutelsat and
continuing to
support their
plans for growth
and expansion
with the launch
of this
mission.”
“We selected
Proton because
we needed both
flexibility and
performance and
we know ILS and
Khrunichev can
provide both
with the
powerful Proton
vehicle. We look
forward
to working with
ILS and
Khrunichev once
again on this
future mission,”
said Michel de
Rosen, CEO of
Eutelsat.
