Sea Launch conducts satellite launch for Intelsat

(AP) A rocket carrying an Intelsat satellite has successfully lifted off from the oceangoing Sea Launch platform on the equator.

A Sunday statement from Sea Launch AG said the rocket took off from the Pacific Ocean platform Odyssey at 11:55 p.m. PDT Saturday.

Thirty minutes after the launch, the 13,188-pound (5,980-kilogram)satellite named Intelsat 21 was in geosynchronous orbit.

Built by Boeing Satellite Systems Inc., the satellite will serve North America, South America and Europe.

The Odyssey platform and the control ship sail from their homeport in Long Beach, Calif., to take advantage of physics that allow a rocket to more easily carry a payload to orbit from the equator.

Sea Launch is now headquartered in Switzerland.