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Russia puts into orbit Saudi telecoms satellite
MOSCOW, June 4 (Xinhua) -- Russia has successfully put into orbit a Saudi telecommunications satellite, said a spokesman for the Khrunichev space research center on Friday.
"After the satellite separated from the booster, control was handed over to the customer, the Arabsat company," Alexander Bobrenyov told reporters.
At 2 a.m. Moscow time (2200 GMT Thursday), the Arabsat-5B telecommunications satellite blasted off atop a Russian Proton-M carrier rocket from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
It separated from the booster some nine hours and 13 minutes later and entered its orbit at an altitude of about 36,000 km.
As a new generation satellite built by France's EADS Astrium, the 5,420-kg Arabsat-5B was anticipated to work for 15 years, covering the area of the Middle East and North Africa.
This has been Russia's sixth satellite launch by its Proton-M carrier this year.
MOSCOW, June 4 (Xinhua) -- Russia has successfully put into orbit a Saudi telecommunications satellite, said a spokesman for the Khrunichev space research center on Friday.
"After the satellite separated from the booster, control was handed over to the customer, the Arabsat company," Alexander Bobrenyov told reporters.
At 2 a.m. Moscow time (2200 GMT Thursday), the Arabsat-5B telecommunications satellite blasted off atop a Russian Proton-M carrier rocket from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
It separated from the booster some nine hours and 13 minutes later and entered its orbit at an altitude of about 36,000 km.
As a new generation satellite built by France's EADS Astrium, the 5,420-kg Arabsat-5B was anticipated to work for 15 years, covering the area of the Middle East and North Africa.
This has been Russia's sixth satellite launch by its Proton-M carrier this year.
