[2] Lockheed Martin Ground Team Acquires GE-6 Signal Following Successful Launch.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 23, 2000

All systems are nominal following the successful launch of the GE-6 telecommunications satellite, designed and built by Lockheed Martin Commercial Space Systems (LMCSS) for GE American Communications (GE Americom).

Lift-off occurred at 3 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time (PDT) on Saturday, Oct. 21, from Baikonur, Kazakhstan, aboard a Proton booster provided by International Launch Services (ILS). Initial contact with the satellite, called acquisition of signal, was confirmed the same day at 5:44 p.m. PDT from the Lockheed Martin satellite tracking station in Uralla, Australia. Over the course of the next several days, the LMCSS ground team will undertake a series of maneuvers to deliver the spacecraft to its orbital slot at 72 degrees West Longitude.

GE-6, a hybrid C/Ku-band satellite with 28 Ku Band and 24 C Band active transponders, will join the GE Americom fleet of satellites and provide direct-to-home (DTH), media and entertainment distribution plus enterprise and Internet protocol (IP) solutions in North America.

Lockheed Martin Commercial Space Systems markets, designs and builds geostationary and non-geostationary telecommunications and remote sensing satellites for customers worldwide. LMCSS is an operating unit of Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company, one of the core business areas of the Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE:LMT). Lockheed Martin has a 41-year heritage of building reliable spacecraft for commercial and military customers, having launched more than 875 spacecraft and clocking nearly 1,100 years of on-orbit performance experience.

For the complete news release and to download a video clip of the launch, please visit: http://www.ilslaunch.com

For images of the GE-6 satellite, please visit the URL site at: http://lmms.external.lmco.com/photos/commercial_space/ge1.3/ge1.3.html