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Moscow (AFP) Oct 26, 2007 Russia carried out its first launch on Friday of a Proton cargo rocket since a previous such rocket crashed on the Kazakh steppe, a launch official told AFP. The rocket, which is fuelled by a highly toxic propellant, was carrying three satellites that will form part of Russia's GLONASS navigation system. The rocket "launched successfully" at 0735 GMT, the official from Russia's Khrunichev rocket centre said. A Proton rocket carrying a Japanese communications satellite crashed on September 6 shortly after take-off from Baikonur, a Soviet-era facility that Russia rents from its neighbour Kazakhstan. Wreckage plunged into a remote corner of the Central Asian republic prompting the country to suspend Proton rocket launches and an instruction that any such future launches should not take place over provinces where Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev is present. GLONASS is intended as Russia's answer to the United States' GPS system, although it has been beset by difficulties, not least a lack of production in Russia of GLONASS receivers for public purchase. The Proton is fuelled by a hypergolic propellant that enables launching at a moment's notice, a requirement for carrying a nuclear payload, part of the rocket's original purpose. Community Email This Article Comment On This Article Related Links Launch Pad at Space-Travel.com
ILS Proton Launch Scheduled In November For SES SIRIUS 4 Satellite
McLeab VA (SPX) Oct 23, 2007International Launch Services (ILS) has scheduled its next Proton Breeze M commercial mission for November 18 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, with the launch of the SIRIUS 4 satellite for SES SIRIUS of Sweden. The SIRIUS 4 satellite arrived in Baikonur Friday (October 19). The satellite, a Lockheed Martin A2100AX model, will weigh approximately 4600 kg at liftoff, making it the largest in the SIRIUS fleet. SIRIUS 4 is a multi-mission Ku-and Ka-band satellite offering a wide range of communications services across Europe and Northern Africa.
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