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Russian rocket sends US satellite into orbit

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-08-19 15:41

MOSCOW -- A Russian Proton-M rocket early on Tuesday sent a US telecommunications satellite, the Inmarsat-4 F3, into Earth orbit, a spokesman for a Moscow-based producer of space-launch systems said.

The rocket was launched from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan at 2:43 a.m. Moscow time (2243 GMT), said Alexander Bobrenyov, spokesman for the Khrunichev state research and production space center.

According to the federal space agency Roskosmos, "within eight hours five mid-course burns will bring the orbital unit from the suborbital trajectory to a final transfer orbit, where the satellite will separate," the Itar-Tass news agency reported.

The US satellite will reach an altitude of about 36,000 km following five switches of the Briz-M engine, he said.

Inmarsat-4 satellites are among the largest and most sophisticated commercial communication satellites in the world, and are capable of delivering advanced voice and broadband data communications to mobile users.