Posted: Tue, Dec 12, 2006, 8:44 AM ET (1344 GMT)
A Proton rocket successfully launched a US-built communications satellite for Malaysia early Tuesday. The Proton M rocket lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 6:28 pm EST Monday (2328 GMT Monday, 5:28 am Tuesday local time), releasing the Measat-3 communications satellite into a geosynchronous transfer orbit a little over nine hours later. Measat-3 is a Boeing 601HP spacecraft that weighted 4,765 kilograms at launch. The spacecraft, with 24 C-band and 24 Ku-band transponders, will provider direct-to-home television and other communications services throughout eastern Asia from 91.5 degrees east in GEO. The launch was the fourth commercial flight for the Proton this year.
