Engineers at DirecTV, Inc. have confirmed that a spacecraft control processor (SCP) aboard the DirecTV 3 satellite switched off on 4 May 2002 and is disabled. The control of the Boeing 601-model satellite was automatically transferred to the spare SCP and the spacecraft continued to operate normally. There was no interruption of service.
DirecTV 3 was moved to a graveyard orbit in October 2002 but returned in 2003, when it was leased to Telesat, which uses the satellite as backup for its troubled Nimiq-2 at 82 degrees West.