Russia launches Proton-M rocket with Dutch telesat

MOSCOW - Russia conducted the twice-postponed launch of a Proton-M rocket with a telecommunications satellite late Monday, the Federal Space Agency Roscosmos said.

The Proton-M carrier rocket, with a Sirius-5 telecommunications satellite on board, blasted off from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan at 22:38 Moscow time (1838 GMT) on Monday, the space agency said.

At 22:48 Moscow time (1848 GMT), the satellite separated from the carrier rocket. The booster will deliver the satellite to the target orbit which is scheduled at 7:50 Moscow Time (0350 GMT) Tuesday, Itar-Tass news agency quoted Roscosmos spokesman Alexei Kuznetsov as saying.

The launch of the satellite, made by the US Space Systems/ Loral company, is operated by the Khrunichev Space Center, which is a producer of Protons carrier rockets and Briz-M boosters, local media reported.

Russia has deferred the launch of the Proton-M rocket twice due to technical reasons.

On June 19, the rocket was removed from its launching pad ahead of the launch due to a technical error, Roscosmos said on its website.

During pre-launch tests, a malfunction was detected in the guiding system of the rocket's first stage, Roscosmos said, adding that technicians changed the device twice during the countdown but failed to bring positive results.

On July 7, Roscosmos deferred the scheduled launch again, saying further inspections of the rocket were needed. Local media reported later the second postpone was due to fuel tanks problems.

The Sirius-5 satellite, with a designed life span of 15 years, will provide full range broadcasting services to European, Baltic and African countries, local media reported.