Posted: Mon, Feb 2, 2015, 6:37 AM ET (1137 GMT)
A Proton rocket successfully launched the second in a new series of communications satellites for Inmarsat on Sunday. The Proton M rocket lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 7:31 am EST (1231 GMT, 6:31 pm local time) carrying the Inmarsat-5F2 satellite. The rocket's Breeze M upper stage released the satellite in a supersynchronous transfer orbit fifteen and a half hours liftoff. The Boeing-built spacecraft, weighing more than 6,000 kilograms at launch, carries a payload of Ka-band transponders to provide broadband communications services. The satellite will be stationed at 55 degrees west in GEO, and is the second of three planned Inmarsat-5 spacecraft.
