Galaxy 33 and Galaxy 34

Galaxy 33 was built to replace Galaxy 15, which was decommissioned on 31 August 2022, and Galaxy 34 to replace Galaxy 12. Both Northrop Grumman-built satellites serve Intelsat's clearing of the lower C-band in the US, which frees that spectrum for mobile phone operators.

A first launch attempt on 6 October was aborted 30 seconds before liftoff over higher-than-expected cryogenic helium decay. After the 8 October launch the pair were left in a transfer orbit with an apogee of about 19,800 km, well below geostationary altitude, and raised themselves from there.