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Russian telecom satellites successfully launched into orbit

The launch was originally planned for mid-2011

Photo ITAR-TASS

Photo ITAR-TASS

MOSCOW, November 3 (Itar-Tass) — The Russian satellites Yamal-300K and Luch-5B are successfully put into orbit, a spokesman for the Federal Space Agency (Roskosmos) told Itar-Tass.

The Russian telecommunication satellite Yamal-300K at 10:18 Moscow time separated from the Briz-M upper stage and went into the planned orbit.

The launch of the Proton-M rocket and the placing of the satellites into orbit were carried out successfully, the source said.

Yamal-300K will be used to provide communication services for Russia's territory and CIS countries. The Yamal, which is made by Reshetnev Information Satellite Systems, belongs to the Russian satellite operator Gazprom Space Systems.

Russian telecom satellites successfully launched into orbit.

Luch-5B separated from the Briz-M stage at 10:33 Moscow time and went into its orbit.

The Luch is the second in the series of four relay satellites. It will work with low-orbited space vehicles, such as manned spacecraft, launch vehicles and upper stages, receive information from them outside the zones of visibility from Russia's territory and transmit it to the Russian ground stations.

The Proton rocket with the Briz-M upper stage and the two Russian satellites was launched from the spaceport of Baikonur at 01:04 Moscow time on Saturday.

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