spacetoday.net: Proton launches two communications satellites

Posted: Sat, Jul 16, 2011, 8:58 AM ET (1258 GMT)
Proton launch of SES-3/KazSat-2 (ILS)

A Proton rocket carried into orbit early Saturday communications satellite for a European company and the Kazakh government. The Proton M lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 7:16 pm EDT Friday (2316 GMT Friday, 5:16 am local time Saturday). Eight hours after launch the Proton released into geostationary transfer orbit SES-3, built by Orbital Sciences for European satellite operator SES. SES-3, weighing 3,112 kilograms at launch, will be located at 103 degrees west in GEO to provide communications services for North America at C- and Ku-band frequencies. Nearly 90 minutes later the Proton released directly into GEO KazSat-2, built by Russian company Khrunichev for the Kazakh government. The launch was the first shared commercial launch of GEO satellites for ILS, the company that markets Proton launches commercially; prior to Friday Proton commercial launches carried one satellite at a time to GEO.