Badr 4 launch 7th November 2006.
7th of November 2006 and I settle down in front of the computer to watch the International Launch Services web stream of the Badr 4 launch. The new satellite is destined for a home at 26E and is due to lift off at 2001 UTC. The launch was at Baikonur in Kazakhstan, and was on a Proton launcher. Coverage was on Badr-3 at 26E, but I havent got a dish on 26E at the moment. Hence my watching the lift off on the web. Many thanks to "satscaner" over on the satellites.co.uk forum for these screengrabs of the event. Much appreciated so I can share them with everyone visiting the site.
25 minutes to launch and the test card shows the downlinks are active. This picture shows 1 minute before coverage starts:
A distant shot of the launch pad shows the rocket ready to go:
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A nice closeup of the fairing protecting Badr-4 during the climbout phase through the atmosphere:
10 seconds to liftoff!
Ignition - and the sudden brightness of the engines lighting up saturates the camera:
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