Intelsat 302

  1968-116A

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The Intelsat III F-2 satellite was the first of the series to reach orbit, and it replaced Early Bird and Intelsat II F-3 as the prime Atlantic region (AOR) satellite. Initially tested at 35W, it was moved in 1969 to 24W. The satellite had a temperature-related problem with the despin system, and had to be turned upside down every six months to keep the sun shining on the antennas and stop the system from locking up. When the problem first surfaced in June 1969, Early Bird was brought out of retirement and some traffic was rerouted around the world via the Indian and Pacific satellites. 

Intelsat III F-2
Date	Time	Event	Orbit
1968 Dec 19	0032:00	Launch by Delta M	CK LC17A
		T+1:15 Castor II SRM sep
		T+3:42 MECO
		St 1 sep
	0035	T+3:44s SES 6:17
		T+4:00 Fairing
	0042	T+10:03 SECO 336 km
	0051	T+19m? St 2 sep
	0051:54	T+19:54 Star 37D burn 41s
	0052:39	T+20:39 TECO
	0053?	T+21m? Star 37D sep	642.9 261 x 36338 x 28.8
1968 Dec 19	0630?	Apo 1 at 69E
1968 Dec 19	1700?	Apo 2 at 91W
1968 Dec 20	0400?	Apo 3 at 104E
	1440?	Apo 4 at 56W
1968 Dec 20	1410?	SVM-2 burn	GEO 51W+3.25E/d
1968 Dec 21		Reverse E drift
1968 Dec 27	2319		1435.90 35773 x 35792 x 0.8 GEO 35.0W+0.04W
1969 Jan		In service AOR	GEO 24W
		Replaced I F-1 and II F-3
1969 Jun 3?			GEO 32.8W
1969 Jun 29		Temporary malfunction, replaced by Early Bird
1969 Dec 1	0000		1436.10 35771 x 35801 x 0.3 GEO 24.1W+0.0E
1970 Feb 9			1536.28 35774 x 35805 x 0.4 GEO 25.3W+0.05E
1970 Mar 9			1436.54 35781 x 35809 x 0.5 GEO 27.6W+0.12E
1970 Apr		Replaced by III F7
1970 Apr 20			GEO 30.7W+0.15W drift
1971 May 25			1436.79 35775 x 35824 x 1.5 GEO 49.2W+0.18E
1974 Feb 28			1436.3 35785 x 35795 x 4.0 (SSR)
1975 Dec 30			GEO 80W (Morgan)
		Orbit raised
1977 Jan 25			1475.14 35988 x 37106 x 6.1 GEO 116W+9.5E
1977 May		end of ops