Russia to launch telecom satellite for Mexico late in September - source
MOSCOW. Sept 8 (Interfax-AVN) - The first commercial mission of a Proton-M carrier rocket after a failed satellite launch last month is planned for September 29, a space industry source told Interfax-AVN.
The Express AM4 satellite, launched by a Proton-M on August 18, missed its orbit.
On September 29 a Proton-M, fitted with a Briz-M upper stage, will have to put in orbit Mexican telecommunications satellite QuetzSat-1, the source interviewed by Interfax-AVN said.
The Proton-M will be launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
However, Alexander Bobrenyov, a spokesman for the Khrunichev State Space Research and Production Center, told Interfax-AVN that the commission investigating the Express AM4 accident had not yet finished work and that for this reason it was too early to set a specific date for the QuetzSat launch.
Earlier, a Baikonur source had told Interfax a Proton-M with a Briz-M upper stage might launch a Russian military satellite on September 18 or September 19, before launching the QuetzSat.