AKIPRESS.COM - A Russian Proton-M rocket carrying the Ekspress-AM7 communications satellite has lifted off from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Thursday, reports TASS news service.
"The lift-off has taken place. The separation of the upper stage as part of the Briz-M booster and the Ekspress-AM7 spacecraft from the third stage of the Proton-M carrier rocket is expected in around 10 minutes," Alexander Shmygov, director of communications at the Khrunichev state research and production space centre, said.
The spacecraft separated from the upper stage at 10:18 a.m. Moscow time (0718 GMT).
Ekspress-AM7 is manufactured by European company Airbus DS under a contract with the Russian satellite communications company. The satellite is due to provide digital television and radio broadcasting, broadband access and multimedia, data transmission, telephone and mobile communications.