Final countdown for Intelsat 901 – 7 June 2001

The launch campaign for Flight 141 entered its final hours today as the
Ariane 4 completes its fueling and the last verifications are carried out.

Liftoff of the Ariane 4 with its Intelsat 901 spacecraft remains on schedule
for 3:44 a.m. local Kourou time in a launch window that lasts one hour.

The payload for this mission is the first IX-series satellite to be launched
for Intelsat. Intelsat 901 will replace Intelsat’s current satellite at
342*E, and provide Ku-Band spot beam coverage for Europe as well as C-Band
coverage for the Atlantic Ocean Region.

The increased power and efficiency of the new Intelsat IX spacecraft will
provide better coverage and stronger signals to meet the burgeoning global
demand for digital services, smaller Earth stations and specialized Intelsat
communications services.

Built by Space Systems/Loral, the Intelsat 901 carries 72 C-Band
transponders and 22 Ku-band transponders (in equiv. 36 MHz units).