The seventeenth launch of the Proton for International Launch Services carrying the GE-1A satellite lifts of its launch pad from Baikonur, Kazakhstan, October 2, 2000. The GE-1A communications satellite, a high-powered Ku-band craft built by Lockheed Martin. GE-1A will be operated by Americom Asia-Pacific, a joint venture of GE Americom and Lockheed Martin Global Telecommunications, to provide coverage to China, Northeast Asia, the Philippines and India. [ILS is a joint venture between Lockheed Martin Corporation of the United States, and Khrunichev Space Center and RSA of Russia.]