spacetoday.net: Proton launches communications satellite

Posted: Wed, Feb 15, 2012, 5:58 AM ET (1058 GMT)
Proton launch of SES-4 (ILS)

A Proton rocket successfully launched a European communications satellite on Wednesday after technical problems delayed two earlier launch attempts. The Proton M lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 2:36 pm EST Tuesday (1936 GMT Tuesday, 1:36 am local time Wednesday) carrying the SES-4 satellite. The rocket's Breeze M upper stage released the satellite into geosynchronous transfer orbit a little over nine hours later. The satellite, a Space Systems/Loral 1300 model, weighed 6,180 kilograms at launch. The spacecraft features 52 C-band and 72 Ku-band transponders and will be used by European operator SES at 22 degrees west in GEO to provide communications services for the Americas, Africa, and Europe. The launch had been scheduled for late December but was postponed because of a technical problem with the rocket; a rescheduled launch attempt in late January was again scrubbed because of technical problems.