 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||
RealVideo launch #4 |
 Globalstar successfully launched four of its Low-earth-orbiting (LEO) satellites into space on April 15th, 1999, at 00:46 GMT aboard a Soyuz-Ikar launch vehicle from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. This brings to 20 the total number of Globalstar satellites now in orbit. Globalstar expects to complete the launching of its constellation of 48 satellites, with four in-orbit spares, by December 1999. The next Globalstar launch is scheduled for June aboard a Delta Rocket. Launch Status Hotline: (408) 933-4000, option 3. Globalstar Launch ScheduleThe current schedule, below, will complete the full constellation by year end:
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
 Delta Launch Quicktime Movie File, ~3.0 M |
Launch Providers
The Globalstar satellites will be launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida and Baikonur, Kazakhstan. Globalstar plans to have at least 32 satellites in orbit in order to start commercial service in the third quarter of 1999, and to have 52 satellites in space by the end of 1999. The following launch providers as picked by Space Systems Loral (SS/L) will launch the satellites:
Boeing has launched eight
Globalstar satellites aboard two Delta II rockets, and will launch an additional 20
satellites by the end of 1999.
The Rocket: Delta II 
- Total Mass: 232,219 kg
- Liftoff Thrust: 359,337 kgf
- Core Diameter: 2.4 m
- Total Length: 35.8 m
- Globalstar mission payload: 1,776 kg
Starsem, Paris, France, has
launched 12 and will launch an additional 12 Globalstar satellites on three Soyuz-Ikar
Launch vehicles.
The Rocket: Soyuz-Icare
- Total Mass: 297,400 kg
- Liftoff Thrust: 411,116 kgf
- Core Diameter: 3.0 m
- Total Length: 34.5 m
- LEO Payload: 7,050 Kg
