Sea Launch officials breathed dawned smiles July 28 when the Russian and Ukrainian-built Zenit 3SL rocket rose from the Odyssey platform and successfully delivered its payload into orbit. Now, Sea Launch executives are slating late September for its next launch from the equator.

The PanAmSat Corp. [SPOT] PAS 9 satellite lifted off the platform at 6:42 p.m. EDT and the bird’s first signal, confirming normal operations, was received around 8:19 EDT at the Sydney, Australia, satellite tracking station.

The PAS 9 Atlantic Ocean Region satellite is the fourth Hughes spacecraft PanAmSat has launched in seven months. Once it reaches its orbital slot at 58 degreesW it will provide at least 15 years of video, data and Internet services in C-band and in Ku-band for the Americas, the Caribbean, Western Europe as well as direct-to-home services for Mexico in Ku-band.

This mission re-introduced Sea Launch as a launch provider on the commercial scene. Sea Launch experienced an anomaly March 12, when its third commercial launch failed (SBN, March 15). Roughly eight minutes after an apparently successful liftoff, Sea Launch commanders lost communication with the Zenit rocket. The vehicle crashed into the Pacific Ocean, carrying with it ICO Global Communication Corp.’s [ICOGF] $100 million satellite (ICO 1).

The subsequent investigation board concluded that a ground software logic error and associated lack of valve closure caused the crash.

Sea Launch’s next launch is planned for September, but a date has not yet been set, said Paula Korn, the company’s spokeswoman. The next satellite to be launched will be Thuraya, a geostationary mobile services spacecraft owned by Thuraya Satellite Telecommunications Co. of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

The Sea Launch multinational partnership includes: The Boeing Co. [BA], The Kvaerner Group, RSC Energia, and SDO Yuzhnoye/PO Yuzhmash of the Ukraine.