Palapa is a series of Communications satellites owned by Indosat, an Indonesian telecommunications company (formerly by Perumtel and then by PT Satelit Palapa Indonesia/Satelindo). Starting with the first in July 1976, at which time Indonesia became the first developing country to operate its own domestic satellite system. The estimated cost for the project was US$1 billion. History The first satellite, Palapa-A1 of , was launched on 8 July 1976 at 23:31 UTC from Kennedy Space Center by a Delta 2914 launch vehicle, or at 06:31 Indonesian Time on 9 July 1976. Palapa-A2 was launched on 10 March 1977. The name "Palapa" was bestowed by then Indonesian President Suharto, after the Palapa oath sworn by Gajah Mada, the Prime Minister of Majapahit Kingdom, in 1334. According to the Pararaton (Book of Kings), Gajah Mada swore that he would not taste any palapa (historians suggest it refers to spice or a kind of flavouring), as long as he had not succeeded in unifying Nusantara (the Indonesian archipelago). After watching the launching of the satellite via television in Jakarta, President Suharto revealed his reason on naming the satellite "palapa"; to show that Indonesia had a glorious past, and also hope that the system can unite the archipelago. Palapa-B1 was deployed by the STS-7 shuttle mission on 18 June 1983. Palapa-B2 was launched from STS-41-B on 3 February 1984, to be put into service afterward, but the perigee kick motor (also known as the Payload Assist Module, or PAM) on the satellite failed during its approach to geosynchronous orbit, placing it at an improper and inoperable low Earth orbit. It was retrieved on 16 November 1984, by the STS-51A mission of NASA's Space Shuttle, where it was brought back to Earth. The Space Shuttle mission to retrieve Palapa-B2 as well as the Westar-6 satellite which shared the launch payload with Palapa-B2, was partially funded by the insurance companies led by Lloyd's of London who insured the launch of those two satellites. Palapa-B2P was launched on 20 March 1987. Palapa-B2 was renamed as Palapa-B2R and launched on 13 April 1990. Palapa-B4 was launched on 14 May 1992. Palapa-C1 was launched on 1 February 1996. Palapa-C2 was launched on 16 May 1996. The Palapa-D satellite was manufactured by Thales Alenia Space and launched aboard a Chinese Long March 3B launch vehicle on 31 August 2009. However it failed to reach the intended orbit following a failure