Hughes-Built PAS-9 Ready for Sea Launch

Hughes Space and
Communications Co. (HSC), the world’s largest satellite manufacturer,
today announced that PanAmSat’s PAS-9 Atlantic Ocean Region satellite,
a Hughes 601HP model spacecraft, has been delivered to Long Beach,
Calif.-based Sea Launch for liftoff on Friday, July 28, at 3:42 p.m.
PDT (6:42 p.m. EDT, 10:42 p.m. GMT).

PAS-9 is one of three satellites ordered by PanAmSat in October
1998, and is the fourth Hughes-built satellite to launch for PanAmSat
in seven months. PAS-9 will use 24 C- and 24 Ku-band transponders to
provide video, data and Internet services for the Americas, the
Caribbean and western Europe, plus direct-to-home services for Mexico
in Ku-band. The satellite will replace PAS-5 at 58 degrees West
longitude.

“The launch of PAS-9 is significant, for it initiates PanAmSat’s
international expansion plan,” said Tig H. Krekel, president and chief
executive officer of HSC. “Since December, HSC has delivered three
satellites to PanAmSat, and they have all been for its Galaxy fleet of
satellites. With the launch of PAS-9, the first of three Hughes-built
international satellites will enter service, followed by PAS-1R, a
Hughes 702, later this year, and a third, PAS-10, a Hughes 601HP, in
early 2001. Our commitment to PanAmSat, one of our largest customers,
remains firm.”

At beginning of life on orbit, the 2,389-kilogram (5,268-pound)
satellite, fully deployed, will measure 26 meters (86 feet) in length
and 7 meters (23 feet) in width. PAS-9 will have 9.9 kilowatts of
spacecraft power on-orbit. The satellite will use dual-junction
gallium arsenide solar cells produced by HSC affiliate Spectrolab
Inc. to provide power to the spacecraft.

Once the satellite is in orbital position, stationkeeping will be
performed by XIPS(TM), a xenon ion propulsion system championed by HSC
in conjunction with Hughes Electron Dynamics Inc. XIPS is an
attractive alternative to chemical bipropellant systems, for it allows
for a reduction of fuel of up to 90 percent. This highly efficient
system has been deployed on 11 Hughes satellites to date.

HSC is the world’s leading manufacturer of commercial
communications satellites, having built nearly 40 percent of those in
operation. It also is a major supplier of spacecraft and equipment to
the U.S. government, and a builder of weather satellites for the
United States and Japan.

PanAmSat Corp., based in Greenwich, Conn., is
a leading provider of global video and data broadcasting services via
satellite. The company builds, owns and operates networks that deliver
entertainment and information to cable television systems, TV
broadcast affiliates, direct-to-home TV operators, Internet service
providers, telecommunications companies and corporations. With 21
spacecraft in orbit today, PanAmSat has the world’s largest commercial
geostationary satellite network. The company will expand its global
fleet to 24 spacecraft by mid-2001. For more information on PanAmSat,
visit the PanAmSat Web site at http://www.panamsat.com.

HSC is a unit of Hughes Electronics Corp., the world’s leading
provider of digital television entertainment, satellite services and
satellite-based private business networks. PanAmSat is 81 percent
owned by Hughes Electronics. The earnings of Hughes Electronics, a
unit of General Motors Corp., are used to calculate the earnings per
share attributable to the General Motors Class H common stock
. More information about Hughes Electronics can be found at
its Web site at www.hughes.com.

TV Editors: Sea Launch Inc. will broadcast the launch live. For
specific downlink information, see the Sea Launch Web site,
www.sea-launch.com.

INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING — Hughes technicians conduct antenna
pattern testing on the PAS-9 satellite in Hughes Space and
Communication Co.’s Integration and Test Complex. Built for PanAmSat
Corp., the 9.9-kilowatt Hughes 601HP satellite carries 48
transponders, 24 each in C-band and Ku-band, and measures 86 feet in
length by 23 feet in width when fully deployed. PAS-9 is scheduled for
a July 28, 2000 launch on a Sea Launch rocket from a platform in the
Pacific Ocean. Once in service at 58 degrees West longitude, PAS-9
will provide at least 15 years of video, data and Internet services
for the Americas, the Caribbean and western Europe, and direct-to-home
services for Mexico.