Intelsat III F-4

Intelsat III F-4 was a geostationary communications satellite above the Pacific.^[3] It was built by TRW and owned by Intelsat, a company currently based in Luxembourg. The satellite had an estimated useful life of 5 years.

Intelsat III F-4

Mission type	Communications
Operator	Intelsat
COSPAR ID	1969-045A[1]
SATCAT no.	03947[2]
Mission duration	5 years design life
Spacecraft properties
Manufacturer	TRW
Launch mass	647 kilograms (1,426 lb)
BOL mass	151 kilograms (333 lb)
Dry mass	293 kilograms (646 lb)
Start of mission
Launch date	22 May 1969, 02:00 (1969-05-22UTC02Z) UTC
Rocket	Delta M
Launch site	Cape Canaveral LC-17A
Contractor	NASA
End of mission
Disposal	Decommissioned
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Geocentric
Regime	Geostationary
Eccentricity	0.00471
Perigee altitude	35,276 kilometres (21,919 mi)
Apogee altitude	35,670 kilometres (22,160 mi)
Inclination	0.5 degrees
Period	1,418.9 minutes
Epoch	22 May 1969
Intelsat III ← Intelsat III F-3 Intelsat III F-5 →

The Intelsat III F-4 was part of the Intelsat III series which consisted of eight satellites, which were used for retransmission of global commercial telecommunications, including live TV.

The satellite was stabilized by rotation with a minus antenna structure (The antenna was 34 inches high). It had a hydrazine propulsion system with four propellers and four tanks, and a passive thermal control. With solar cells producing 178W peak, nine Ahr NiCd batteries. The load consisted of two transponders that used 12 watt TWTA amplifiers for multiple access, 1500 audio circuits or four TV channels. The Intelsat III F-1 was disabled due to launch vehicle failure.

The satellite was successfully launched into space on May 22, 1969, by means of a Delta M vehicle from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, United States. It had a launch mass of 293 kg.^[4]