KUBINKA (Moscow Region) (Sputnik) — Russia plans to launch three Proton and two Rokot launch vehicles by the end of 2017, the head of the Khrunichev Space Center told reporters at the Army 2017 forum Tuesday.
"Before the end of the year, we have a Proton launch scheduled on September 9 with the Amazonas-5 communication satellite, and the second Proton with the AsiaSat-9 space vehicle on September 28," Aleksei Varochko said.
A third launch with the use of the Proton-M rocket carrying a Russian Defense Ministry satellite is expected in December, Varochko added. All three launches are expected to take place from the Baikonur space center.
"It can be said that the launch of Rokot with the Sentinel 5B satellite is scheduled on October 9. This turns out to be a tight schedule. Also before the end of the year, a second Rokot launch with the Sentinel 3B spacecraft is planned from Plesetsk," he specified.