Russia's Proton Rocket Orbits US Echostar Communications Satellite (VIDEO)

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — This was the first launch of a Proton since June 2016 when a rocket suffered an engine glitch, prompting an audit that grounded the Proton launches for a year.

"The spacecraft has successfully separated from the upper stage [o the rocket], so the Russian part of the program for launching EchoStar-21 is complete, the satellite has been transferred to the management of the customer," the official said.