Apstar 1A
Launch SuccessfulLaunch Details
Date: 3 July 1996, 10:47 am UTC
Rocket: Long March 3 (Long March)
Provider: China Aerospace Corporation
Mission
Type: Communications
Orbit: Geostationary Orbit
Pad: Launch Complex 3 (LC-3/LA-1), Xichang Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China
Mission Description
The APSTAR 1 spacecraft carries such general communications traffic as voice, fax, data, and television signals across China and Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Singapore, and Vietnam. APSTAR 1A has expanded coverage to India and Pakistan. Hughes Space and Communications International, Inc., signed a contract in May 1992 with APT Satellite Company, Ltd., of Hong Kong for the first satellite. APT ordered APSTAR IA in March 1995. The spacecraft were built at the Hughes Space and Communications Company facilities in El Segundo, Calif.