Russia launched a Proton-M carrier rocket carrying a U.S. communications satellite from Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan early Tuesday.
A live TV broadcast showed that the rocket blasted off at 3:22 a.m. Moscow time (0022 GMT) from the Central Asian launching pad.
About nine hours after the liftoff, the DirecTV-12 communications satellite will separate from the booster and be allocated at 101 degrees
West on the geostationary orbit, said Alexander Bobrenev, a spokesman for the Khrunichev Aerospace Center.
Manufactured by U.S. company Boeing, the 5.9-ton satellite is expected to stay in operation for 15 years, providing communication, internet and
digital broadcasting services for U.S. customers.
The launch is the tenth involving a Proton-M carrier rocket this year. Produced by the Khrunichev center, the three-stage carrier rocket using liquid propellant has a liftoff weight of about 700 tons.