By IANS,
Moscow : Russia launched two telecommunications satellites Monday night aboard a Proton-M rocket from the Baikonur space centre in Kazakhstan, according to the Russian Federal Space Agency Roscosmos.
Live webcast from Roscosmos showed that the Proton carrier rocket blasted off from the Cosmodrome at 11.31 p.m. as scheduled, Xinhua reported.
The Indonesian satellite — Telkom 3 — is scheduled to separate from the rocket’s upper stage at 8.44 a.m. Tuesday and the Russian satellite — Express MD2 — at 9.14 a.m., said Roscosmos.
The 1.8-tonne Telkom 3, with a life span of 15 years, is developed by the Information Satellite Systems-Reshetnev Company of Russia. It will provide broadcasting and communications services for Indonesia, and is expected to improve the country’s IT infrastructure.
Express MD2, with a life span of 10 years, was designed and developed jointly by Russia and France. It will provide broadcasting, communications, internet and other services for Russia’s Far East and Southern Siberia regions.
Monday’s launch was the sixth of the Proton rocket in 2012, and the 378th in its flight history.