spacetoday.net: Proton launches communications satellite

Posted: Thu, Dec 29, 2005, 8:31 AM ET (1331 GMT)
Proton launch of AMC-23 (ILS)

A Proton booster successfully launched an American communications satellite early Thursday. The Proton-M lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 9:28 pm EST Wednesday (0228 GMT Thursday), placing the AMC-23 satellite into geosychronous transfer orbit. AMC 23, a Spacebus 4000 model from Alcatel Alenia Space, weighed nearly 5,000 kilograms at launch and carries 20 Ku-band and 18 C-band transponders. The spacecraft's owner, SES Americom, plans to use the spacecraft to serve customers throughout the Pacific Ocean region from its location at 172 degrees east in GEO. The launch had been scheduled for early December but was delayed to replace a faulty gyro in the Proton's control system. The launch is the 55th and last scheduled orbital launch for 2005, one more than 2004.