Posted: Thu, Jan 28, 2010, 2:00 PM ET (1900 GMT)
A Proton rocket placed a Russian military communications satellite into orbit early Thursday. The Proton M lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 7:18 pm EST Wednesday (0018 GMT Thursday) and injected the Raduga satellite into a geosynchronous transfer orbit about nine hours later. The satellite is the latest in a series of military communications satellites operating in GEO; the specific slow in GEO this satellite will operate from was not disclosed. The launch is the first Russian mission of 2010 and the second orbital launch worldwide so far this year.

Related Links:

•  RIA Novosti article
•  Itar-Tass article
•  Spaceflight Now article