spacetoday.net: Proton launches Eutelsat communications satellite

Proton launches Eutelsat communications satellite

Posted: Wed, May 15, 2013, 6:47 AM ET (1047 GMT)
Proton M launch of Eutelsat 3D (ILS)

A Russian Proton rocket successfully launched a communications satellite for European operator Eutelsat on Tuesday. The Proton M lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 1202 pm EDT (1602 GMT, 10:02 pm local time) Tuesday. The rocket's Breeze M upper stage, after completing a standard five-burn mission, deployed the Eutelsat 3D satellite into geosynchronous transfer orbit nine hours and 13 minutes later. The 5,470-kilogram satellite, a Spacebus 4000 model built by Thales Alenia Space, will be used by Eutelsat at 3 degrees east longitude in GEO to provide Ka- and Ku-band communications services from Europe to Central Asia. The launch was the third commercial launch in less than three months for the Proton.