Launch hold for the Soyuz-Fregat mission with Galaxy 14

August 13, 2005

The flight of PanAmSat's Galaxy 14 satellite was put on hold early today when a telemetry anomaly occurred with its Soyuz-Fregat launcher during the final countdown at Baikonur Cosmodrome.

Both the Galaxy 14 payload and the Soyuz-Fregat vehicle were immediately configured in a safe mode on Launch Pad #6 at the Cosmodrome.

A new launch date will be announced following an analysis of the telemetry anomaly.

Galaxy 14 is the second of three C-band geostationary communications satellites ordered by PanAmSat from Orbital Sciences Corporation. It originally was scheduled for launch on an Ariane 5, and was switched to Soyuz-Fregat to meet PanAmSat's operational requirements.

This transfer from Ariane 5 to Soyuz-Fregat was made possible by the Starsem/Arianespace policy of cooperation, which allows these two affiliated launch service providers to best respond to their clients' needs.

See our other Feature Stories on the Galaxy 14 mission:

    -MISSION ACCOMPLISHED! Soyuz-Fregat orbits the Galaxy 14 satellite for PanAmSat - August 14
    -LIFTOFF! Soyuz-Fregat makes an on-time departure from Baikonur Cosmodrome - August 14
    -Soyuz-Fregat mission with Galaxy 14 rescheduled for Aug. 13 - August 13
    -Soyuz-Fregat launcher readied for launch from Baikonur Cosmodrome with Galaxy 1 - August 12
    -The Galaxy 14 launch campaign enters its final phase - August 9
    -Galaxy 14 launch campaign is underway - July 7