Spanish satellite launched from Baikonur reaches designated orbit
BAIKONUR. Sept 12 (Interfax) - The Amazonas-5 Spanish telecom satellite has separated from the booster stage of the Proton-M launch vehicle, a spokesman for the Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center told Interfax.
'The satellite has separated from the booster stage. It has reached the designated orbit," the spokesman said.
The Proton-M launch vehicle blasted off from site No. 200 of the Baikonur cosmodrome on Monday evening.
The Amazonas-5 telecom satellite was built by Space Systems Loral (the U.S.) on order from Hispasat (Spain). The satellite will provide television, corporate network, and telephone services to South and Central Americas.
The contract for launching the Spanish satellite with a Proton-M heavy-lift launch vehicle and a Briz-M booster stage was signed by International Launch Services Inc. (ILS, based in Reston, the U.S.), which has the exclusive right to Proton LV marketing. ILS is a subsidiary of the Khrunichev center.
The Amazonas-5 launch was the 95th Proton mission carried out under ILS contracts.