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Boeing Ships Thuraya-2 Satellite to Sea Launch Home Port

ST. LOUIS, May 19, 2003 - Boeing [NYSE:BA] has shipped the Thuraya-2
mobile communications satellite from its Boeing Satellite Systems
manufacturing facility in El Segundo, Calif., to the Sea Launch
Company, LLC Home Port in Long Beach, Calif., where it is being
prepared for an early June launch. 

The Boeing GEO-Mobile satellite is the second spacecraft built and
shipped by Boeing Satellite Systems for Thuraya Satellite
Telecommunications Company of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. The
satellite will be lifted into orbit by a Sea Launch Zenit-3SL rocket
from the Odyssey Launch Platform positioned on the equator in the
Pacific Ocean. 

"With its powerful digital signal processor and the ability to handle
nearly 14,000 simultaneous phone calls, Thuraya-2 is one of the most
advanced satellites we've delivered to-date," said Dave Ryan,
president of Boeing Satellite Systems International. "I am fully
confident that Thuraya-2 has the quality and reliability to support
Thuraya's continued success providing vital mobile communications
services to a vast portion of the globe." 

Thuraya-2 will be located at the 44 degrees East orbital slot in
geosynchronous Earth orbit. Thuraya-1, deployed by Sea Launch in
October 2000, was the first Boeing-built GEO-Mobile spacecraft and is
the heart of the Thuraya network. An end-to-end Boeing-built system,
Thuraya provides mobile voice and data communication services to a
region populated by some 2.3 billion people, serving more than 100
countries in Europe, the Middle East, North and Central Africa, the
CIS countries and South Asia. 

The Boeing Company is the world's leading aerospace company, with its
heritage mirroring the history of flight. It is the largest
manufacturer of satellites, commercial jetliners and military
aircraft. The company is also a global market leader in missile
defense, human space flight and launch services.

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Contact:
Richard Esposito
Boeing Satellite Systems
310-335-6314
richard.esposito{at}boeing.com

Madonna Walsh
Boeing IDS News Bureau
314-234-1362
madonna.a.walsh{at}boeing.com

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