Russia Launches Telecoms Satellite From Kazakh Space Centre
June 24, 2005
Excerpt from report by Russian news agency Interfax
Moscow, 24 June: A heavy Proton-K booster rocket carrying the Express AM-3 communications satellite was launched from the Baykonur cosmodrome at 2341 hours Moscow time [1941 gmt], a spokesman for the Roskosmos [Federal Space Agency] press service has told Interfax.
“The launch went according to plan. All systems performed normally,” the spokesman said.
[Passage omitted: The satellite is scheduled to go into orbit at 0614 hours Moscow time - 0214 gmt - on Saturday 25 June.]