Russia Puts New Telecoms Satellite Into Orbit

Russia successfully put into orbit on Monday a new Express-AM33 telecommunications satellite, the Federal Space Agency said.

The satellite, designed by the Reshetnev Applied Mechanics Science and Production Association to provide TV and satellite communications all over Russia, was launched on board a Proton-M carrier rocket from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan earlier on Monday.

“The separation of the spacecraft from a Proton-M rocket with a Briz-M booster took place on schedule and without complications,” a spokesman for the space agency, Roscosmos, said.

Proton-M launch services are provided by Russian-American joint venture International Launch Services (ILS), which received $1.5 billion in new launch orders in 2007.

ILS is owned by Space Transport Inc., Khrunichev State Research and Production Center, and RSC Energia.

Another scheduled launch, of the Thor-2R communications satellite owned by Norway’s Telenor Satellite Broadcasting, will take place on February 10.

Source RIA Novosti

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