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Russia plans 11 Proton-M rocket launches in 2015 — source

“The launch of the Inmarsat-5F2 communications satellite is to be the first — on January 30,” a source in the rocket and space industry told TASS

© ITAR-TASS/Roscosmos

MOSCOW, December 4. /TASS/. Russia plans 11 launches of the Proton-M carrier rockets from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan in 2015, a source in the rocket and space industry told TASS on Thursday.

“The launch of the Inmarsat-5F2 communications satellite is to be the first — on January 30,” he said.

The next launch may be carried out in February: a military satellite is to be placed into orbit.

In spring it is planned to carry out five launches of Proton-M with the spacecraft Express-AM7, Express-AM8, MexSat-1 (Mexico), GLONASS-M (three satellites) and Inmarsat-5F3, the source said.

Two launches of the Proton rocket with the TurkSat (Turkey) and Eutelsat-9B satellites may be carried out in summer. “Two Proton launches for orbiting the Express-AMU-1 and Intelsat-31 satellites are planned for autumn,” the source said.

Russia’s Proton-M carrier rocket was derived from the Soviet-developed Proton. It is built by the Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center and launched from sites 81 and 200 at the Baikonur cosmodrome. Commercial launches are marketed by International Launch Services (ILS). The first Proton-M launch occurred on 7 April 2001.

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