AsiaSat 3

Launch Partial Failure

Liftoff Time (GMT)

23:19:00

Wednesday December 24, 1997

Mission Details

AsiaSat 3

Wiki

AsiaSat 3 was a communication satellite intended to be launched on a GTO trajectory for AsiaSat Ltd. However, due to an issue with the DM-03 upper stage, it was left in an unusable orbit. After being declared a loss and sold to Hughes Global Services and renamed WGS-1, it was decided to schedule two flybys with the moon to alter the satellite's orbit to make it usable for telecommunications. This made WGS-1 the first commercial spacecraft to have a flyby with the moon.

Geostationary Transfer Orbit

1 Payload

3,400 kilograms

Rocket

Retired
Proton-K/Block DM-3

Active 1996 to 1999

Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center logo

Manufacturer

Khrunichev

Rocket

Height: 57.64m

Payload to Orbit

LEO: 19,000 kg

GTO: 2,500 kg

Liftoff Thrust

9,548 Kilonewtons

Fairing

Diameter: 4.35m

Height: 10.4m

Stages

4

Launch Site

Site 81/23

Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan

Fastest Turnaround

11 days 23 hours

Stats

Proton-K


249th

Mission

9th

Mission of 1997

1997


89th

Orbital launch attempt