A video replay showing various different camera angles of the launch has been posted.

LAUNCH SUCCESS! The Intelsat 18 communications spacecraft has been boosted into geosynchronous transfer orbit and cast free from the Block DM-SLB motor to complete a successful flight by the Land Launch rocket.

Satellite operator Intelsat will use its newest commercial satellite in geostationary orbit at 180 degrees East longitude to provide a full range of communications services across Asia, Australia, North America and islands in the Pacific Ocean.

Once operational in November, the craft will replace the aging Intelsat 701 satellite launched 18 years ago this month in providing communications links to bridge both sides of the Pacific.

Intelsat 18 was built by Orbital Sciences using the GEOStar 2 platform. The 7,055-pound craft is equipped with a communications payload consisting of 24 C-band and 12 Ku-band transponders. It has a life expectancy of 15 years.

"Intelsat 18 will provide the infrastructure for customers to deliver media content directly to homes throughout the Pacific Ocean region, as well as broadband services directly to government and commercial users," said Intelsat CEO David McGlade.

This was the first of six Intelsat launches planned over the next year to refresh and upgrade its global network of spacecraft. The five deployments in 2012:

• First quarter: Intelsat 22 on a Russian Proton rocket to cover Europe, Africa and Asia.
  
  
• First quarter: Intelsat 23 on a Proton to cover the Americas, Europe and Africa.
  
  
• First quarter: Intelsat 19 on Sea Launch to serve the Asia-Pacific region.
  
  
• Second quarter: Intelsat 20 aboard the European Ariane 5 rocket to cover Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia.
  
  
• Third quarter: Intelsat 21 on Sea Launch to cover the Americas and Europe.

The final burn of the Block DM-SLB has been confirmed! The main engine, consuming a mixture of highly refined kerosene propellant and supercold liquid oxygen, just accomplished the third of three planned firings in the Intelsat 18 launch.

With the powered phase of today's launch now finished, the rocket coasts for a few minutes between engine cutoff and release of the satellite.

Check out a page of high-quality launch photos captured during today's Baikonur blastoff.

Telemetry recorded aboard the rocket while outside of ground tracking stations and then played back when in communications range shows the flight is continuing to proceed normally with no problems to report.

The Land Launch rocket's upper stage has successfully completed its second burn of the day, firing for five minutes in a maneuver designed to boost the vehicle from the post-liftoff parking orbit into a highly elliptical, highly inclined orbit stretching about 22,350 miles in altitude at its farthest point and tilted 49 degrees to the equator.

A final burn later tonight will raise the orbit's low point and decrease the inclination before setting Intelsat 18 free to fly on its own.

If you missed today's live webcast, we've posted a gallery of some select countdown and launch images.

The initial phases of today's ascent have been performed successfully, mission officials report. The lower two stages of the Zenit 3SLB rocket completed their burns during through eight-and-a-half minutes of flight and the Block DM-SLB upper stage motor conducted its first firing to reach a temporary parking orbit around Earth.

The rocket will be coasting for about an hour before the upper stage reignites its main engine to raise the orbit's high point to geosynchronous altitude.

A third and final burn by the Block DM-SLB comes late tonight at 0322 GMT (11:22 p.m. EDT) to achieve the desired launch orbit for Intelsat 18.

Ignition of the Block DM-SLB upper stage has occurred, beginning a four-minute burn to inject the rocket and attached Intelsat 18 satellite into the preliminary parking orbit. All continues to go well in the mission.

The second stage of the Zenit rocket has separated, leaving the Block DM-SLB upper stage to perform its three firings over the course of the next six hours to loft Intelsat 18 into the proper orbit.

All systems are reported "nominal" in the Zenit rocket's ascent so far. The first stage finished its firing and separated to allow the second stage to ignite. Jettison of the nose cone shrouding the Intelsat 18 spacecraft is confirmed as well.

LIFTOFF! Liftoff of the Land Launch Zenit 3SLB rocket, beginning a six-and-a-half-hour trek to geosynchronous transfer orbit for deployment of the Intelsat 18 communications satellite.

As this flight gets underway, you are watching a live streaming video feed from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

We will pass along updates about the flight's progress as it becomes available throughout the evening. Release of the satellite from the rocket to finish the launch sequence is expected at 0334 GMT (11:34 p.m. EDT).

T-minus 1 minute. The rocket stands pressurized and ready for blastoff as the automatic launch sequence enters the final 60 seconds.

T-minus 4 minutes and counting. The erector arm has lowered to the pad deck where it's now being driven a safe distance away from the rocket for liftoff.

T-minus 10 minutes and counting. The transporter/erector arm is pulling away from the Land Launch Zenit 3SLB rocket. The arm was used in cradling the rocket while traveling from the assembly building to the launch pad, then erecting the vehicle upright.

L-minus 30 minutes. Fueling of the rocket is nearing completion as the countdown rolls on.

L-minus 60 minutes. Having already completed the Block DM-SLB liquid oxygen loading, the filling of LOX into the lower two stages is underway.

L-minus 90 minutes and counting. In the streaming video from Baikonur, you are looking live at fueling operations for the rocket. The three-stage booster uses a highly refined kerosene fuel and supercold liquid oxygen to feed its engines during launch.

Now two-and-a-half hours remaining before blastoff of the Zenit 3SLB rocket. Officials says all systems continue to be 'go' for launch. Radio frequency link checks with the Intelsat 18 satellite have been completed and software batches are being loaded aboard now.

With just under four-and-a-half hours left in the countdown, officials report activities are proceeding on schedule for launch today. The Intelsat 18 spacecraft has been cleared for flight after yesterday's scrub to review an unexpected parameter on the satellite.

Aiming to replace an 18-year-old communications satellite that bridges the vast Pacific to link Asia with North America, a new spacecraft is headed to orbit Wednesday atop the commercial Land Launch venture's Zenit 3SLB rocket.

Liftoff from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan is scheduled for 2100 GMT (5 p.m. EDT) to begin the six-and-a-half-hour climb to geosynchronous transfer orbit.

It will be the 75th flight of a Zenit booster since 1985 and the fifth under the Land Launch marketing banner for medium-sized communications payloads in the past three years.

The cargo this time is Intelsat 18, a bird equipped with C- and Ku-band transponders that will operate in geostationary orbit at 180 degrees East longitude over the equator. It has a design life of 15 years.

Built by Orbital Sciences on the GEOStar 2 satellite platform, Intelsat 18 weighs 7,055 pounds at launch, making it one of the lighter geostationary craft flying today.

"Intelsat 18 will provide the infrastructure for customers to deliver media content directly to homes throughout the Pacific Ocean region, as well as broadband services directly to government and commercial users," said Intelsat CEO David McGlade.

The satellite's 24 C-band transponders will focus on Eastern Asia, the Western Pacific and North America. The 12 Ku-band transponders Ku-band payload will serve North America, Australia, French Polynesia, Cook Islands, New Zealand, New Caledonia, Vanatu, Fiji, Tonga, Samoa and other islands of the Pacific.

"Intelsat's strategy aligns our fleet investments to support our customer's growth needs. The Intelsat 18 payload includes a Ku-band beam designed to the requirements of Office des Postes et Communications (OPT) of French Polynesia. The customer will use this beam to provide new broadband, expanded domestic (direct-to-home) service and improve its infrastrastructure across French Polynesia, with the ability to serve the South Pacific," said McGlade.

Intelsat has been around since 1964, and the company today has a global network of satellites. This newest spacecraft will be used to replace the aging Intelsat 701 bird launched by an Ariane 4 rocket on Oct. 22, 1993.

Operators expect to have Intelsat 18 checked out and ready to commence operations in November.

Getting to orbit will require the power of the two-stage Ukrainian-made Zenit vehicle and the Russian-built Block DM-SLB upper stage. The rocket is directly related to the Sea Launch booster flown from a floating platform in the Pacific Ocean that carries heavy-weight communications satellites into space.

The only visible difference between the two rockets is Land Launch uses a Russian-manufactured rocket nose cone to encapsulate the payload during ascent versus the Boeing shroud used by Sea Launch.

The launch site location is the other obvious difference between the two systems, which reflects why the same rocket can loft two classes of satellites. Land Launch flies from Central Asia and requires substantial maneuvering to get its cargo into a traditional dropoff point for a satellite bound of geostationary orbit, thereby limiting the weight of the payload to the mid-size range. Sea Launch goes from the equator and takes advantage of the Earth's faster rotation there, enabling the rocket to haul heavier communications payloads.

Wednesday's flight will mark Intelsat's second ride on Land Launch for its smaller spacecraft. Sea Launch has deployed seven of Intelsat's bigger birds as well.

After igniting its main engine and ascending from Baikonur, the Land Launch Zenit 3SLB will fly eastward across Asia on 1.6 million pounds of thrust from the four-chamber RD-171 engine.

Once the first stage separates two-and-a-half minutes into flight, the RD-120 powerplant on the second stage will come to life. During that firing, the payload fairing that shielded the Intelsat 18 satellite during the climb through the denser lower atmosphere will be jettisoned at T+plus 5 minutes, 18 seconds.

Then some 8 minutes, 31 seconds after blastoff is the point when the second stage will separate from the Block DM-SLB upper stage. Ten seconds later, the motor will ignite for a four-minute burn to place itself in a temporary parking orbit with a low point of 109 miles and a high point of 417 miles, inclined 51.38 degrees to the equator.

The rocket and attached payload will coast along until the upper stage is reignited at T+plus 1 hour, 20 minutes to perform a five-minute firing that accelerates the vehicle into a highly elliptical, highly inclined orbit with a low point of 120 miles and a high point of 22,358 miles, inclined 49.01 degrees to the equator.

After a lengthy trek to reach the high point of that intermediate orbit, the Block DM-SLB will deliver a third burn at T+plus 6 hours, 22 minutes. This critical 83-second push brings down the inclination and raises the orbit's perigee, resulting in the targeted geosynchronous transfer orbit with a low point of 3,428 miles and a high point of 22,236 miles, inclined 19.5 degrees to the equator.

Separation of the spacecraft from the rocket into the targeted geosynchronous transfer orbit to complete the launch is expected 6 hours, 34 minutes, 44 seconds after liftoff, or 0334 GMT (11:34 p.m. EDT).

The satellite will use its onboard engines over the subsequent days to finish circularizing the altitude at 22,300 miles and getting itself positioned at the orbital parking spot of 180 degrees East longitude over the equatorial Pacific.

Check this page during the launch for live updates on the mission's progress.

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The Land Launch Zenit 3SLB rocket has been transported by rail from the final assembly building to its pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to prepare for blastoff carrying the Intelsat 18 commercial telecommunications satellite.

See a photo gallery of the rollout and some video.