BY JUSTIN RAY

Reload this page for updates on the countdown and launch of a Russian Soyuz rocket carrying the Israeli AMOS 2 communications satellite.

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 28, 2003
0432 GMT (11:32 p.m. EST Sat.)

SUCCESS! The Israeli AMOS 2 telecommunications satellite has been successfully delivered into geosynchronous transfer orbit tonight by the Russian Soyuz-Fregat rocket. Read our full story.

0320 GMT (10:20 p.m. EST Sat.)

T+plus 5 hours, 50 minutes. Over the next hour, the Fregat rocket motor will finish the job of propelling AMOS 2 into the intended geosynchronous transfer orbit and then release the communications satellite. Officials will announce the results of the marathon launch around 0430 GMT.

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 27, 2003
2144 GMT (4:44 p.m. EST)

T+plus 14 minutes. Fregat has completed its initial firing today to inject the motor and attached AMOS 2 spacecraft from a sub-orbital trajectory into a low-altitude preliminary orbit around Earth.

The duo will coast through space for about an hour before Fregat re-ignites at T+plus 1 hour, 21 minutes to achieve an intermediate transfer orbit and begin reducing the orbital inclination.

After a much longer coast, Fregat fires another time at T+plus 6 hours, 36 minutes to reach geosynchronous transfer orbit and further reduce inclination.

Deployment of AMOS to conclude the launch is expected at T+plus 6 hours, 46 minutes.

2140 GMT (4:40 p.m. EST)

T+plus 10 minutes, 50 seconds. The Fregat upper stage has ignited!

The Fregat upper stage is responsible for achieving the initial parking orbit, then boosting AMOS 2 into the desired geosynchoronous transfer orbit. The upper stage is independent from the lower three stages and has its own guidance, navigation, control, tracking and telemetry systems.

The stage consumes unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine and nitrogen tetroxide propellants, and can be restarted up to 20 times in flight. Today it will be fired three times to deploy AMOS 2.

2139 GMT (4:39 p.m. EST)

T+plus 9 minutes, 7 seconds. The third stage has completed its firing and separated from the Fregat upper stage motor.

The third stage will perform an avoidance maneuver by opening an outgassing valve in the liquid oxygen tank.

The Fregat now readies itself for the first of three engine burns today.

2135 GMT (4:35 p.m. EST)

T+plus 5 minutes, 20 seconds. The second stage of the Soyuz rocket has shut down and separated. The third stage is now up and firing.

This third stage features an RD-0110 engine with four combustion chambers and nozzles. Four vernier nozzles provide three-axis flight control.

Ignition of the third stage's main engine occurs approximately two seconds before shutdown of the second stage. The third stage is connected to the second stage by a latticework structure. As the third stage fires to life, the engine's thrust separates the stage from the lower central core.

2134 GMT (4:34 p.m. EST)

T+plus 4 minutes, 20 seconds. The payload fairing has been jettisoned. The second stage core stage continues to fire.

2132 GMT (4:32 p.m. EST)

T+plus 2 minutes. The four strap-on boosters of the first stage separated as scheduled.

2131 GMT (4:31 p.m. EST)

T+plus 60 seconds. The cone-shaped first stage boosters and central core engines continue to fire.

The first stage is actually four strap-on boosters mounted around the central core -- the second stage -- of the Soyuz. The boosters' RD-107A engines are burning liquid oxygen and kerosene propellant. Each engine has four combustion chambers and nozzles.

The rocket's second stage -- called the central core -- has an RD-108A engine with four combustion chambers and nozzles and four vernier steering thrusters. This stage also consumes kerosene fuel and liquid oxygen.

2130 GMT (4:30 p.m. EST)

LIFTOFF! Liftoff of the Russian Soyuz rocket and AMOS 2 -- an Israeli satellite to bridge telecommunications between the Middle East, Europe and the United States.

2129 GMT (4:29 p.m. EST)

Now 60 seconds to launch.

2127 GMT (4:27 p.m. EST)

T-minus 3 minutes. All remains ready for liftoff.

2123 GMT (4:23 p.m. EST)

The Fregat upper stage and AMOS 2 spacecraft have been verified ready for launch.

2117 GMT (4:17 p.m. EST)

Clocks are continuing to tick toward an on-time liftoff of the Soyuz rocket and AMOS 2 today. Launch officials are not reporting any problems or concerns.

2050 GMT (3:50 p.m. EST)

The Israeli AMOS 2 communications satellite is poised for launch today aboard the Russian Soyuz rocket. Liftoff from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Central Asia will occur at 2130 GMT (4:30 p.m. EST).

As the countdown enters the final 20 seconds, the four strap-on boosters and the central core of the Soyuz will fire up to an intermediate level of thrust. After engine health checks are performed, the engines are throttled up and the rocket lifts off.

The Soyuz vehicle's first three stages will complete their firings by T+plus 9 minutes. At that point, the upper stage motor, called Fregat, will perform an engine burn to reach a low-altitude parking orbit with the attached AMOS payload.

Over the course over six-and-a-half hours, Fregat will conduct two more firings to reach a highly-elliptical geosynchronous transfer orbit. Deployment of AMOS 2 to complete the launch is expected at T+plus 6 hours, 46 minutes, 47 seconds -- or 0446 GMT (11:16 p.m. EST) tonight.

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 25, 2003

A Russian Soyuz rocket will serve as a delivery truck for an Israeli telecommunications satellite Saturday, launching the craft high above Earth to relay television, data and Internet services from the Middle East to the United States' eastern seaboard.

Liftoff from the Baikonur Cosmodrome's launch pad 6 is scheduled for 2130 GMT (4:30 p.m. EST). The fully assembled booster was rolled from its processing hangar to the pad on Wednesday.

The AMOS 2 spacecraft will be deployed from the rocket's Fregat upper stage nearly 7 hours after liftoff. It will be flying in a temporary egg-shaped geosynchronous transfer orbit.

In the following days, the satellite will propel itself into circular geostationary orbit about 36,000 km high where it will match Earth's rotation and appear parked above the equator at 4 degrees West longitude.

This mission will mark the first time a Soyuz has performed such a commercial launch to geosynchronous transfer orbit. The flight is managed by Starsem, the company formed to commercially market the Soyuz, which has been in use for decades. Starsem has conducted 11 Soyuz missions to date, several of which carried Globalstar mobile telephone satellites and most recently Europe's Mars Express and Beagle 2 craft.

AMOS 2 was supposed to launch aboard a European Ariane 5 rocket from South America, but it was transferred to the Soyuz due to scheduling conflicts in the Arianespace manifest. Arianespace is one of the shareholders in the French-Russian Starsem venture.

Built by Israel Aircraft Industries' MBT Space Division, the AMOS 2 satellite will be co-located with AMOS 1 spacecraft deployed in 1996 by an Ariane 4 rocket. But this latest satellite features enhancements and power upgrades, allowing it to cover the Middle East, Europe and eastern parts of the U.S.

The 1,370-kg AMOS 2 features 11 active Ku-band transponders and three backups. It is expected to operate for 12 years. The Israeli company Spacecom Ltd. will use the satellite.

Watch this page for live updates on the launch!