[Satellite Today – 3-5-08] Sea Launch‘s Odyssey launch platform and Sea Launch Commander departed homeport in advanced of the scheduled DirecTV 11 launch March 17, the company announced.
    DirecTV 11, the second of three satellites Boeing is building for DirecTV Inc., is a 702-model satellite that will enable DirecTV to continue to expand its high-definition (HD) programming lineup. Combined with the DirecTV 10 satellite launched in July, the satellite operator will have the capacity to offer 150 national HD channels and 1,500 local HD channels.
    This is the fourth mission Sea Launch will execute for DirecTV, the most recent being DirecTV 7S in May 2004.