International Launch
Services (ILS) and Intelsat LLC announced a contract today for launch
of an Intelsat X satellite on a Proton rocket in 2003. Financial
details were not disclosed.

“This contract gets the year off to a great start, and reinforces
our ties with a longtime customer,” said ILS President Mark Albrecht,
in announcing the deal during the Pacific Telecommunications Council
conference in Hawaii. “ILS has launched four Intelsat satellites since
1995, on our Atlas IIAS vehicle, and we will be launching the Intelsat
903 spacecraft on Proton in just a few weeks. With the Intelsat X
series, we will have launched four generations of Intelsat satellites
while demonstrating the capabilities and reliability of our two
families of rockets.”

Albrecht pointed out the excellent track record of the Proton and
Atlas vehicles. “In the last 24 months, Atlas and Proton together have
flown 32 times, all successfully,” he said. “No one else offers what
we do — two independent vehicles with a heritage of excellent
reliability, with similar capabilities that enable them to back each
other up. We’ve set a new standard for launch services.”

The Intelsat 10-01 satellite is scheduled to launch in the second
quarter of 2003 and the 10-02 spacecraft in the third quarter. ILS
will launch one of these satellites, from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in
Kazahkstan, using the enhanced-performance Proton M/Breeze M vehicle
built by Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center of
Russia.

ILS is a joint venture of Lockheed Martin Corp. in the United
States, manufacturer of the Atlas vehicle family, and Proton’s
builders, Khrunichev and RSC Energia.

The Proton M/Breeze M vehicle took its inaugural flight in 2001
carrying a Russian government satellite. The Proton M features more
powerful engines than the workhorse Proton K, structural enhancements
to support the increased lift capability and a state-of-the-art
digital guidance system.

Together with the upgraded Breeze M upper stage, the Proton M
provides enhanced performance, greater payload volume and increased
mission design flexibility.

The INTELSAT X series satellites are Eurostar 3000 spacecraft
designed and built by Astrium. ILS is also launching a Eurostar 3000
model for Inmarsat, on an Atlas V vehicle, in the 2003/2004 time
frame.

ILS is the leading provider of launch services to the commercial
and government satellite industry, having captured between 40 and 50
percent of the market in the last two years. ILS offers the broadest
range of launch services in the world along with products with the
highest reliability in the industry.

ILS’ Atlas rockets and their Centaur upper stages are built by
Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company-Astronautics Operations at
facilities in Denver; Harlingen, Texas; and San Diego, Calif. The
three-stage Proton and the Breeze M upper stage are produced by
Khrunichev at its factory near Moscow. The alternative Block DM upper
stage is built by Energia, also near Moscow.