International Launch Services (ILS) is providing launch services for global satellite operators and offers a complete array of services and support, from contract signing through mission management and on-orbit delivery. ILS has exclusive rights to market Proton launch services for commercial and civil satellite programs worldwide. ILS markets also the Angara 1.2 rocket for launch services to global commercial and governmental customers for Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites.

ILS was founded in 1995 and is a subsidiary of Khrunichev State Research & Production Space Center (Khrunichev) is headquartered in Reston, VA, near Washington, D.C. comprised of about 30 professionals and provides sales, marketing, mission management, launch operations, legal, licensing, and technical translation services.

Company History

ILS was formed in 1995 as a private spaceflight partnership between Lockheed Martin, Khrunichev and RSC Energia. ILS initially co-marketed non-military launches on both the US Atlas and the Russian Proton launch vehicles.

With the Atlas V launch of the SES-1KR satellite for satellite operator SES on April 20, 2006, ILS had made 100 launches, 97 of which were successful.

In September 2006, Lockheed Martin announced its intention to sell its ownership interests in Lockheed Khrunichev Energia International, Inc. (LKEI) and ILS International Launch Services, Inc. (ILS) to Space Transport Inc. that was formed specifically for this transaction by Mario Lemme.

The transaction between Lockheed Martin and Space Transport Inc. was completed in October 2006. Lockheed Martin has retained all rights related to marketing the commercial Atlas vehicle and is continuing to offer Atlas launch services to the worldwide commercial market through its subsidiary, Lockheed Martin Commercial Launch Services, Inc. (LMCLS). ILS, no longer affiliated with Lockheed Martin, continued to market the Proton launch vehicles to commercial clients. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed and all Atlas V launches are now managed by United Launch Alliance (ULA), the joint-venture between Lockheed Martin and Boeing (IDS/Defense, Space & Security/Launch Services) formed in December 2006, with all commercial Atlas V launches sub-contracted for ULA by LMCLS.

In May 2008, Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center, a Russian company, acquired all of Space Transport’s interest and is now the majority shareholder in ILS. ILS will remain a US company and headquartered in Reston, Virginia where approximately 60 employees are based.

On June 9th, 2016 ILS’ Proton orbited Intelsat’s Intelsat-31 satellite with increased payload performance and encountered a premature shutdown of one of its four second stage engines that cut out around 9 seconds early and caused a shortfall in energy after the 3-stage rocket was done. Proton’s Briz-M Upper Stage luckily corrected the performance hit and Intelsat-31 reached its planned orbit, but future missions were grounded until answers for the premature shutdown could be found.

International Launch Services (ILS) struggled to sell Proton launches against a backdrop of past vehicle failures and increased competition in the US, Europe and Asia. ILS’ Proton averaged around 9 launches a year from 2008 to 2018, but in 2018 Proton launched only twice, neither of which was an ILS mission.

On June 8^th 2017 the Echostar XXI satellite, one of the vehicle’s heaviest Geotransfer payloads to date, was orbited for satellite operator EchoStar. It was the first launch for that year and the 6^th launch for EchoStar on a Proton vehicle. The 2^nd launch in 2017 was the launch of Amazonas 5 satellite for satellite operator Hispasat from Spain. ILS completed its third and final 2017 commercial Proton mission on September 29^th, launching the AsiaSat-9 satellite for Hong Kong based AsiaSat satellite operator from the Baikonur Cosmodrome launch site in Kazachstan.

On April 12^th 2019 Glavkosmos, a subsidiary of Russian State Space Company Roskosmos, took over control of ILS to compete with SpaceX’s very much cheaper reusable Falcon 9 series. Glavkosmos already had GK Launch Services under its umbrella, a company established by Glavkosmos and International Space Company Kosmotras. GK Launch Services operates the Soyuz-2 commercial launch vehicle from the Russian spaceports, Vostochny, Baikonur and Plesetsk.

In May 2019 ILS launched the Yamal-601 communications satellite for Gazprom Space Systems from Russia, completing the first of six Proton missions planned for that year.

On October 9^th 2019 ILS successfully launched the EUTELSAT 5 West B for satellite operator Eutelsat from France.

In March 2020 ILS hired a new executive, Triphaine Louradour, who worked for competitor ULA, as the company expands to offer Soyuz launch services and potentially human spaceflight missions.

Launch facilities

ILS conduct launches from the Baikonur Cosmodrome launch site in Kazachstan approximately 2,100 km (1,300 miles) southeast of Moscow. The facility was created in 1955 and is one of the Russian Federation’s two major space launch complexes. Baikonur has been the launch site for Soviet, and later Russian, human spaceflight programs, geostationary satellites launches and scientific missions to the moon and planets and is a large Y-shaped complex that extends about 160km (100 miles) by 88km (55 miles). On 2 June 2015, Baikonur celebrated its 60th year anniversary.

The vehicle processing and launch areas are connected to each other and to the city of Baikonur by 470km (290 mi) of wide-gauge railroad lines. The rail system is the principal mode of transportation. Rockets are carried from their vehicle assembly buildings to their launch pads horizontally on railcars and erected onto the launch pad.

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Two launch pads are available for commercial Proton missions. Launch vehicle and spacecraft time on pad is five days.

The spacecraft is transported to the Baikonur Cosmodrome by air and is offloaded at the on-site Yubileiny Airfield. It is then transported to the state-of-the-art processing facility in Area 92 for testing, fueling, mating to the Breeze M Upper Stage and encapsulation with the payload fairing.

Launch Vehicles

ILS is using the Proton launch system for both commercial and Russian government space launches. The first Proton rocket was launched in 1965. Modern versions of the launch system are still in use as of 2016, making it one of the most successful heavy boosters in the history of spaceflight.

All Protons are built at the Khrunichev State Research & Production Space Center plant in Moscow and transported to the Baikonur Cosmodrome launch facility and brought to the launch pad horizontally and raised into vertical position for launch.

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The names of recurring payloads became associated with the Proton. The moniker “Proton” originates from a series of similarly named scientific satellites, which were among the rocket’s first payloads.

Launch capacity to low Earth orbit is about 22.8 tonnes (50,000 lbs). Geostationary transfer capacity is about 6,150 kgs (13,560 lb). The Proton rocket will retire before 2030.

All trademarks, logos and images mentioned and showed on this page are property of their respective owners.

Resources

www.ilslaunch.com
www.khrunichev.ru
www.lockheedmartin.com
www.energia.com
www.kosmotras.ru
www.wikipedia.org
www.space.com
www.spaceflight101.com  edition June 8^th, 2017
www.youtube.com
www.glavkosmos.com
www.gklaunch.ru
www.serdata.com  edition April 12^th, 2019
www.spacenews.com  edition April 12^th, 2019
www.spacenews.com  edition May 31^st, 2019
www.spacenews.com  edition March 11^th, 2020

Satellites launched by ILS

Spacecraft	Orbit	Customer	Country	Purpose
ABS-6 (LMI-1, KoreaSat-7, ABS-1)GEO	ABS-6 (LMI-1, KoreaSat-7, ABS-1) at 159° East	Asia Broadcast Satellite (ABS)		Communication
Al Yah 2 (Yahsat 1B, Y1B)GEO	47.5° East	Space42 (aka Yahsat)		Communication
Amazonas-5GEO	61° West	Hispasat		Communication
AMC-14 (GE-14)GEO	35° East	SES		Broadcasting
AMC-15 (GE-15)GEO	105° West	SES		Communication
AMC-6 (GE-6, Rainbow 2)GEO	139° West	SES		Communication
AMOS 5GEO	17° East	Spacecom		Communication
AngoSat-2GEO	23° East	AngoSat		Communication
Anik F1RGEO	107° West	Telesat		Communication
Anik F3GEO	119° West	Telesat		Communication
Anik F4 (AMC-11, GE-11)GEO	131° West	SES		Communication
Anik G1GEO	107° West	Telesat		Communication
AsiaSat-5GEO	100.5° East	AsiaSat		Communication
AsiaSat-7GEO	105.5° East	AsiaSat		Communication
AsiaSat-9GEO	122° E	AsiaSat		Communication
Astra 1GGEO	Astra 1G at 63° East	SES		Broadcasting
Astra 1KRGEO	19.2° East	-		Broadcasting
Astra 1MGEO	19.2° East	SES		Broadcasting
Astra 2AGEO	28° East	SES		Broadcasting
Astra 2CGEO	28° East	SES		Broadcasting
Astra 2E/Eutelsat 28EGEO	28° East	Eutelsat		Broadcasting
Astra 2G/Eutelsat 28GGEO	28° East	Eutelsat		Broadcasting
Astra 4A (Sirius 4)GEO	5° East	SES		Broadcasting
BADR-4 (ArabSat-4B)GEO	26° East	Arabsat		Communication
BADR-5 (ArabSat-5B)GEO	26° East	Arabsat		Communication
Centenario (MEXSAT-1)GEO	-	Ministry of Communications and Transportation		Communication
Ciel-2GEO	129° West	Ciel		Communication
EchoStar XIV (EchoStar-14)GEO	119° West	EchoStar		Communication
EchoStar XV (EchoStar-15)GEO	62° West	EchoStar		Communication
EchoStar XVI (EchoStar-16)GEO	62° West	EchoStar		Communication
EchoStar XXI (TerreStar-2, EchoStar-21)GEO	97° West	EchoStar		Communication
Eutelsat 10A (Solaris W2A, Eutelsat W2A, EchoStar 21)GEO	10° East	EchoStar		Communication
Eutelsat 117 West A (SatMex 8)GEO	117° West	Eutelsat		Communication
Eutelsat 139 West (Eutelsat 7A, W3A)GEO	139° West	Eutelsat		Communication
Eutelsat 174A (Eutelsat 172A, GE-23, Worldsat 3, AMC-23)GEO	174° East	Eutelsat		Communication
Eutelsat 33F (Eutelsat 13B, HOTBIRD 8, HOTBIRD 13B)GEO	13° East	Eutelsat		Communication
Eutelsat 36B (Eutelsat W7)GEO	36° East	Eutelsat		Communication
Eutelsat 5 West BGEO	5° East	Eutelsat		Communication
Eutelsat 9BGEO	9° East	Eutelsat		Communication
Express-AM3GEO	103° East	RSCC		Communication
Express-AM33GEO	96,5° East	RSCC		Communication
Express-AM44GEO	11° West	RSCC		Communication
Express-AM7GEO	40° East	RSCC		Communication
Express-AM8GEO	14° West	RSCC		Communication
Express-AMU1 (Eutelsat 36C)GEO	36˚ East	Eutelsat		Communication
Express-AMU3GEO	96° East	RSCC		Communication
Express-AMU7GEO	145° East	RSCC		Communication
Express-AT1 (Eutelsat 56E)GEO	56° East	Eutelsat		Communication
Express-AT2 (Eutelsat 140E)GEO	140° East	Eutelsat		Communication
Hellas-Sat 3/Inmarsat S EAN (EuropaSat)GEO	39° East	Hellas-Sat		Communication
Inmarsat-3 F2 (I-3 F2)GEO	55° West	Inmarsat		Communication
Inmarsat-4 F3 (I-4 F3, PAC-E)GEO	98° East	Inmarsat		Communication
Inmarsat-5 F2 (Inmarsat GX2, IS AOR)GEO	55° East	Inmarsat		Communication
Inmarsat-5 F3 (Inmarsat GX3, IS POR)GEO	180° East	Inmarsat		Communication
Intelsat 10-02 (THOR 10-02) (ext. lifespan with MEV-2)GEO	1° West	Intelsat		Communication
Intelsat-10 (IS-10, PAS-10)GEO	47° East	Intelsat		Communication
Intelsat-16 (IS-16, PAS-11R)GEO	43° West	Intelsat		Communication
Intelsat-22 (IS-22)GEO	72° East	Intelsat		Communication
Intelsat-23 (IS-23)GEO	53° West	Intelsat		Communication
Intelsat-31 (IS-31, DLA-2)GEO	95° West	Intelsat		Communication
Intelsat-5 (IS-5, PAS-5)GEO	137° West	Intelsat		Communication
JCSAT-11GEO	28° East	SKY Perfect JSAT		Communication
KA-SATGEO	9° East	Viasat, Inc.		Communication
KazSat-1 (ҚазСат-1, QazSat-1)GEO	103° East	KazSat		Communication
KazSat-2 (ҚазСат-2, QazSat-2)GEO	86° East	KazSat		Communication
KazSat-3 (ҚазСат-3, QazSat-3)GEO	58° East	KazSat		Communication
MEASAT-3GEO	46° East	MEASAT		Communication
Nimiq 4GEO	82° West	Telesat		Communication
Nimiq 5 (EchoStar-72W)GEO	72° West	EchoStar		Communication
Nimiq 6GEO	91° West	Telesat		Communication
NSS-10 (Astra 4A, Star One C12, Worldsat 2, AMC-12)GEO	37.5° West	SES		Broadcasting
NSS-11 (GE-1A, AAP-1, Worldsat 1)GEO	176° East	SES		Communication
QuetzSat-1GEO	77° West	QuetzSat		Communication
SES-1 (AMC-4R)GEO	101° West	SES		Communication
SES-3 (AMC-1R)GEO	103° West	SES		Communication
SES-4 (NSS-14)GEO	22° West	SES		Communication
SES-5 (Sirius-5, Astra-4B)GEO	5° East	SES		Communication
SES-6GEO	40.5° West	SES		Communication
SES-7 (Galaxy-8iR, Protostar-2, IndoStar-2)GEO	108.2° East	SES		Communication
SXM-5GEO	115° West	SiriusXM		Broadcasting
Telstar-14R/Estrela do Sul 2GEO	63° West	Telesat		Communication
Telstar-5 (Intelsat Americas 5, Galaxy-25)GEO	33° East	Intelsat		Communication
THOR 5 (THOR-2R)GEO	1° West	Space Norway (former Telenor Satellite Services)		Communication
TürkSat-4aGEO	42° East	Türksat		Communication
TürkSat-4bGEO	50° East	Türksat		Communication
Viasat-1 (VS-1)GEO	115° West	Viasat, Inc.		Communication
Yamal-300KGEO	183° East	Gazprom Space Systems		Communication
Yamal-401GEO	90° East	Gazprom Space Systems		Communication
Yamal-402GEO	55° East	Gazprom Space Systems		Communication
Yamal-601GEO	49° East	Gazprom Space Systems		Communication

Satellite fleet by ILS

Spacecraft	Orbit	Customer	Country	Purpose
Centenario (MEXSAT-1)GEO	-	Ministry of Communications and Transportation		Communication

Rideshare missions by ILS

Rideshare Mission	Launch date	Launch vehicle	Spacecraft launched	Orbit
Kosmos-2591-2594	21 August 2025	Angara-1.2	4	LEO
EXPRESS AMU3 & AMU7	13 December 2021	Proton M/Breeze	2	GEO

Dedicated missions by ILS

Dedicated Mission	Launch date	Launch vehicle	Orbit
EXPRESS AMU1	25 December 2015	Proton M/Breeze	GEO
EXPRESS AM8	14 September 2015	Proton M/Breeze	GEO
Inmarsat-5 F3	29 August 2015	Proton M/Breeze	GEO
Eutelsat-9B	20 August 2015	Proton M/Breeze	GEO
MEXSAT (Centenario)	16 May 2015	Proton M/Breeze	GEO
Anik G1	15 April 2015	Proton M/Breeze	GEO
EXPRESS AM7	18 March 2015	Proton M/Breeze	GEO
EXPRESS AM6	21 October 2014	Proton M/Breeze	GEO
Kazsat-3	28 April 2014	Proton M/Breeze	GEO
Inmarsat-5 F1	8 December 2013	Proton M/Breeze	GEO
SES-6	3 June 2013	Proton M/Breeze	GEO
Eutelsat 3D	14 May 2013	Proton M/Breeze	GEO
SATMEX 8	26 March 2013	Proton M/Breeze	GEO
Echostar XVI	20 November 2012	Proton M/Breeze	GEO
Intelsat 23	14 October 2012	Proton M/Breeze	GEO
Intelsat-21	19 August 2012	Proton M/Breeze	GEO
SES-5	10 July 2012	Proton M/Breeze	GEO
Intelsat 22	25 March 2012	Proton M/Breeze	GEO
SES-4	14 February 2012	Proton M/Breeze	GEO
Kazsat-2	16 July 2011	Proton M/Breeze	GEO
Sirius XM-5	14 October 2010	Proton M/Breeze	GEO
W7	24 November 2009	Proton M/Breeze	GEO
EXPRESS AM44	11 February 2009	Proton M/Breeze	GEO
EXPRESS AM33	28 January 2008	Proton M/Breeze	GEO
HOT BIRD 8	5 August 2006	Proton M/Breeze	GEO
Kazsat-1	17 June 2006	Proton M/Breeze	GEO
AMC-23	29 December 2005	Proton M/Breeze	GEO
EXPRESS AM3	24 June 2005	Proton M/Breeze	GEO