Lockheed Martin Atlas V vehicle lifts massive satellite.(AEROSPACE)

Advanced Materials & Processes,  May, 2005  

Tags: aerospace, Lockheed Martin Corp., satellite

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An Atlas V launch vehicle carried its largest payload to date into orbit, the Inmarsat 4-F1 satellite that weighs nearly six metric tons (13,138 pounds). This also marked the third launch of the year for International Launch Services (ILS). The Lockheed Martin-built Atlas V vehicle, designated AV-004, placed the Inmarsat spacecraft in a supersynchronous transfer orbit.

The Atlas V had a four-meter-diameter fairing, three solid rocket boosters (SRBs,) and a single-engine Centaur upper stage. Atlas V vehicles have now flown five times, three of them with SRBs. "The Atlas ...

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