BAIKONUR (Kazakhstan) (Sputnik) — A heavy Proton-M carrier rocket with the Breeze-M booster lifted off on Monday from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan to orbit the Spanish Amazonas-5 telecommunications satellite, a Sputnik correspondent reported from the launch site.
The launch, carried out by the International Launch Services (ILS), took place as scheduled at 10.32 pm Moscow time (19:32 GMT). The separation of the satellite from the Breeze booster is expected at 07.35 am Moscow time on September 12.
The ILS is a US-based subsidiary of Russia's Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center. The company was founded in 1995 and has launched over 90 commercial Proton rockets since then.
All launch-related risks have been insured by the SOGAZ Insurance Group, one of the largest federal insurers in Russia.
