November 24, 2015 (JST)

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.
National Research and Development Agency
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) are pleased to announce the successful launch of Telesat's broadcast and telecommunication satellite, Telstar 12 VANTAGE, by H-IIA Launch vehicle No. 29 (H-IIA F29) at 3:50:00 p.m. on Nov. 24, 2015 (Japan Standard Time, JST) from the Tanegashima Space Center.

The launch vehicle flew as planned and, at about 4 hours and 27 minutes after liftoff, the separation of the Telstar 12 VANTAGE satellite was confirmed.

The H-IIA UPGRADE brought unique capabilities to the H-IIA launch vehicle. The upgrade enables the H-IIA to perform a long coast flight, and allows the second stage engine to ignite for the third time at the apogee. With these new capabilities, the H-IIA was able to inject the Telstar 12 VANTAGE closer to geostationary orbit than conventional geostationary transfer orbit.

MHI and JAXA would like to express our profound appreciation for the cooperation and support of all related personnel and organizations that helped contribute to the successful launch of the H-IIA F29.

At the time of the launch, the weather was fine, a wind speed was 8.6 meters/second from the north-east and the temperature was 22.0 degrees Celsius.