Proton-M carrier rocket lifts off from Baikonur
MOSCOW. KAZINFORM The Proton-M carrier rocket, which lifted off from Baikonur space launch facility early on Sunday, has put the Briz-M rocket booster and the Russian relay satellite Luch in the interim orbit, the press service of the Russian Space Agency (Roskosmos) reported.
"The Russian satellite is expected to enter the final calculated orbit at 09:26 Moscow time (on Sunday)," the press service said, ITAR-TASS reports. The Luch spacecraft is another satellite of the Luch Multifunctional Relay System which is being developed under the 2006-2015 Russian federal space programme. The Luch relay system is intended to provide the Russian segment of the International Space Station /ISS)/; low-orbiting space devices; boosters and upper stages with communication with ground-based facilities. The previous Luch spacecraft - Luch-5B - was successfully put in orbit on April 28 this year.