Nice job, Sea Launch:

A Zenit-3SL rocket lifted off at 10:21pm PDT on July 15 (5:21 GMT, July 16) from the Odyssey Launch Platform, positioned at 154 degrees West Longitude. One hour later, the Block DM-SL upper stage inserted the 5,511 kg (12,150 lb) EchoStar XI satellite into geosynchronous transfer orbit, on its way to a final orbital position at 110 degrees West Longitude. Operators at the Gnangara ground station in Perth, Australia, acquired the spacecraft’s first signals from orbit shortly after spacecraft separation. All systems performed nominally throughout the mission.

"Congratulations to DISH Network, and to Space Systems/Loral for tonight’s outstanding success,” said Kjell Karlsen, president and general manager of Sea Launch. “We’re proud of our role in DISH Network’s continued success. We thank you for your continued trust and confidence in our system and our team. I also want to thank the Sea Launch team, the Sea Launch partners, and all the suppliers and contractors around the world who support us."

Built by Space Systems/Loral (SS/L), the EchoStar XI spacecraft is designed for an orbital service life of 15 years, with 20kW of power to support the expansion of DISH Network’s capacity and capabilities to customers throughout the United States.

"For the third mission in a row, Sea Launch has successfully launched a satellite for DISH Network, and we are thrilled to add our eleventh high-power satellite to our fleet,” said Rohan Zaveri, vice president of Space Programs for DISH Network. “We look forward to beginning testing and ultimately enhancing our already extensive, high quality programming lineup."

On July 14, 2008, our EchoStar 2 satellite experienced a substantial failure that appears to have rendered the satellite a total loss. EchoStar 2 had been operating from the 148 degree orbital location primarily as a back-up satellite, but had provided local network channel service to Alaska and six other small markets. All programming and other services previously broadcast from EchoStar 2 were restored to Echostar 1, the primary satellite at the 148 degree location, within several hours after the failure. EchoStar 2, which was launched in September 1996, had a book value of approximately $6.4 million as of June 30, 2008.