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Proton-M carrier rocket installed on launchpad at Baikonur spaceport

The Ekspress-AMU3 and Ekspress-AMU7 telecom satellites, made by the Reshetnev Information Satellite Systems Company and the European company Thales Alenia Space Italia, will be put into orbit for the Russian Satellite Communications Company

MOSCOW, December 11. /TASS/. The Proton-M rocket carrying two Ekspress-AMU3 and Ekspress-AMU7 telecom satellites, which is expected to be launched on December 13, has been installed on a launchpad at the Baikonur spaceport, Russia’s Roscosmos state space agency said on Twitter on Saturday.

"The Proton-M rocket is installed on the launchpad No. 39 of Site 200 and brought into a vertical position," the tweet reads.

Roscosmos CEO Dmitry Rogozin announced earlier that the launch had been rescheduled from December 6 to December 12 due to the need to refine the rocket’s booster. Roscosmos specified later that experts from the Khrunichev Center had resolved an issue with the Briz-M booster.

However, an issue was detected in the booster on Friday and the launch was moved to a backup date, December 13.

The Ekspress-AMU3 and Ekspress-AMU7 telecom satellites, made by the Reshetnev Information Satellite Systems Company and the European company Thales Alenia Space Italia, will be put into orbit for the Russian Satellite Communications Company.