Russia's Proton rocket takes U.S. satellite to orbit

[FarCenter]

Russia's Proton-M carrier rocket, launched on Saturday from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan, took a U.S. telecommunications satellite to orbit after a nine-hour flight, a spokesman for Russia's federal space agency said on Sunday.

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"The Proton-M carrier rocket with a Briz-M upper stage, which blasted off from the Baikonur Space Center on Saturday orbited the AMC-4P satellite," the source said.

A control station in Perth, Australia, has already received initial signals from the satellite, also known under the name SES-1.

The 2.6-tonne SES-1 is a hybrid C- and Ku-band spacecraft with a life span of 17+ years. It will provide coverage of the U.S. and the Caribbean and is intended to replace SES's existing AMC-2 and AMC-4 satellites.

<SNIP>http://en.rian.ru/science/20100425/158733436.html