Intelsat 509

 1984-057A

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The last MCS satellite, Intelsat V F-9, was stranded in low orbit when its Centaur stage failed. A clogged fuel line meant that the first burn was 8 seconds shorter than planned, and the second burn shut down only 3.5 seconds into a planned 91 second firing. The thrusters were used to raise the orbit slightly; the satellite was deorbited using the apogee motor after 138 days. Following the loss of the Westar and Palapa satellites earlier in the year, the Intelsat failure triggered a rise in insurance premiums.

Intelsat V F-9 (MCS)
Date	Time	Event	Orbit
1984 Jun 9	2303:00	Launch by Atlas G Centaur	CC LC36
		T+2:10? BECO
		T+2:13 Booster sep
		T+2:44 Centaur insulation sep
		T+3:29 Fairing sep
		T+4:14 MECO
		T+4:17 Atlas sep
		T+4:23 Centaur MES1
	2312:26	T+9:26 Centaur MECO1 (8 s short)	172 x 318 x 28.7
	2326:42	T+23:42 Centaur MES2
	2326:45	Centaur MECO2 (after 3.5s)	187 x 1240 x 29.2
	2329?	T+26:36 Centaur sep
1984 Jun 10			98.77 176 x 1222 x 29.2
1984 Jun 11			98.69 172 x 1219 x 29.1
1984 Jun 16			99.31 229 x 1221 x 28.7
1984 Jul 19			99.05 238 x 1187 x 28.7
1984 Oct 22			98.29 242 x 1111 x 28.7
1984 Oct 24	0910?	Star 37XF fired to deorbit
	0955?	Reentered