Posted: Wed, Aug 12, 2009, 9:46 AM ET (1346 GMT)
A Proton rocket successfully placed a commercial communications satellite for AsiaSat into orbit Wednesday. The Proton-M lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 3:47 pm EDT Tuesday (1947 GMT Tuesday, 1:47 am local time Wednesday) and inserted the AsiaSat 5 spacecraft into geosynchronous transfer orbit a little over nine hours later. The spacecraft, owned by Hong Kong-based Asia Satellite Telecommunications Company Ltd. (AsiaSat), is a Space Systems/Loral 1300-series spacecraft that weighed 3,760 kilograms at launch. AsiaSat 5 will be located at 100.5 degrees east in GEO, providing communications services using 14 Ku-band and 26 C-band transponders and replacing the existing AsiaSat 2 spacecraft. The launch was the sixth Proton launch of 2009, four of which have been commercial missions.

Related Links:

•  Spaceflight Now article
•  NASASpaceFlight.com article
•  RIA Novosti article
•  Kazakhstan Today article
•  ILS press release