It was constructed by Space Systems Loral and was based on the LS-1300 satellite bus.

The launch was contracted by International Launch Services, and used a Proton-K/DM3 carrier rocket flying from Site 81/23 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome.

It was operating in a tundra orbit, from where it provided satellite radio communications services to North America.

In 2016, the satellite was decommissioned and moved into a disposal orbit.

This article about one or more communications satellites is a stub.