The Antonov Arrives at LGB With Spacecraft Cargo

One of the largest cargo planes, an Antonov An-124, arrived at Long Beach Airport this week transporting a EUTELSAT-70B satellite of Eutelsat. The sattelite has been transported to the Sea Lauch "Home Port" facility in Long Beach.



The Antonov An-124 cargo plane carrying the EUTELSAT-70B spacecraft arrives under foggy conditions



Following unloading, the satellite was delivered to the clean room area of the 16-acre sites payload processing facility, where mission operations and integration efforts are now underway.

After standalone spacecraft operations are completed, the satellite will be handed over to Sea Launch's prime contractor, Energia Logistics, Ltd., to be mated with the payload support structure and integrated with the Zenit-3SL launch vehicle before departure to the launch site in November.

The launch of the EUTELSAT-70B satellite is scheduled for the early December timeframe.

The Antonov An-124 will depart LGB this Thursday at 1 pm.