Russia’s Proton-M rocket launched a pair of communications satellites Monday, in a rare outing for Russia’s heavy-lift launch vehicle. Monday’s launch took place at 12:07 UTC (17:07 local time) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, with the mission lasting 18 hours from liftoff to final spacecraft separation.
Proton’s payload is made up of Ekspress-AMU3 and AMU7, a pair of communications satellites to be operated by the state-owned Russian Satellite Communications Company (RSCC), also known as the Federal State Unitary Enterprise “Space Communications.”