United States Air ForceThor Delta MSpace Launch Complex 17A, Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA
INTELSAT III F-2
Launched
December 19, 1968
Image: NASA
Summary
INTELSAT III F-2 launched on an United States Air Force Thor Delta M from Space Launch Complex 17A, Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA on December 19, 1968. It was United States Air Force's 474th launch, 41st this year and humanity's 916th orbital launch attempt. It was the 2nd Thor Delta M flight. The payload was bound for Geostationary Orbit (Direct-GEO). The tracked orbit of INTELSAT III F-2, one of 2 catalogued objects, from December 27, 1968, was 35,780 × 35,800 km inclined 0.8°. 2 objects from this launch are catalogued, one of them a payload.
- Watch
- No webcast on record.
- Vehicle
- Thor Delta M · United States Air Force
- Booster
- No booster details on record.
- Mission
- Communications · Geostationary Orbit (Direct-GEO)
- Milestone
- 2nd Thor Delta M flightUnited States Air Force's 474th launch41st this yearhumanity's 916th orbital launch attempt128th orbital launch attempt this year
Flight preview
Orbit: as tracked
INTELSAT III F-2 · NORAD 3623 · 1968-116 · Space-Track · tracking 1 of 2 objects
Show the numbers for orbit elements
- Object
- INTELSAT 3-F2
- Object ID
- 1968-116A
- Epoch
- 1968-12-27 23:19:59 UTC
- Mean motion
- 1.00285254 rev/day
- Eccentricity
- 0.0002337
- Inclination
- 0.786°
- Ascending node
- 276.1446°
- Arg. of perigee
- 167.627°
- Mean anomaly
- 327.705°
- Element set
- 999
- Rev at epoch
- 10
- B*
- 0
Perigee, apogee and period are Kepler figures from the catalogued mean elements, not a propagated state. Published orbit: Direct-GEO.
Catalogued objects
2 catalogued: 1 payload, 1 rocket stage
- INTELSAT III F-2 · NORAD 3623
Delta 63 Stage 3 · re-entered January 26, 2005
Data from J. McDowell, planet4589.org
About this launch
The Intelsat 3 spacecraft were used to relay commercial global telecommunications including live TV. Three of the 8 satellites in the series (F1, F5, F8) were unusable due to launch vehicle failures, and most of the remainder did not achieve their desired lifetimes.
Pad
Space Launch Complex 17A, Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA
37th launch from Space Launch Complex 17A, 2nd this year · 227th from Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA
145 launches from this pad · 1,131 from Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA
91 days after the previous launch from this pad
Questions
When did INTELSAT III F-2 launch?
INTELSAT III F-2 launched on December 19, 1968. The time is known to the hour, not the minute.
Where can I watch INTELSAT III F-2?
No webcast is on record for this launch.
What rocket launched INTELSAT III F-2?
Thor Delta M, flown by United States Air Force. Thor Delta M spec sheet
Where did INTELSAT III F-2 launch from?
Space Launch Complex 17A, Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA.
What orbit did INTELSAT III F-2 reach?
The tracked orbit of INTELSAT III F-2, one of 2 catalogued objects, from December 27, 1968, was 35,780 × 35,800 km inclined 0.8°.
How many satellites did INTELSAT III F-2 launch?
1 payload from this launch is catalogued (Data from J. McDowell, planet4589.org).