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Launch of Russian Proton carrier rocket with British satellite set for January 30

The Proton carrier rocket and the Briz-M upper stage have been developed and are manufactured by the Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center
Proton carrier rocket  ITAR-TASS/Oleg Urusov
Proton carrier rocket
© ITAR-TASS/Oleg Urusov

MOSCOW, January 12. /TASS/. The launch of a Russian Proton-M carrier rocket with British communications satellite Inmarsat-5F2 has been scheduled for January 30 from the Baikonur space center that Russia leases from Kazakhstan, Russian Federal Space Agency Roscosmos told TASS Monday.

“The Inmarsat-5F2 spacecraft was delivered to Baikonur on December 18. Specialists of the Boeing manufacturer company’s space programs unit immediately started preparing and checking it in the integration and test building,” Roscosmos said.

The Proton carrier rocket and the Briz-M upper stage have been developed and are manufactured by the Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center. The modernized Proton-M, fitted out with the Briz-M upper stage, is capable of putting into geostationary transfer orbit payloads weighing more than 6 metric tons.

The Inmarsat-5F2 is the second of three Inmarsat satellites of the fifth generation. It is designed to provide communications services in North and South Americas, as well as in the Atlantic region. The first of these satellites was successfully launched with the help of a Proton-M carrier rocket in December 2013.