spacetoday.net: Proton launches Russian military satellite

Posted: Sat, Jun 28, 2008, 10:16 AM ET (1416 GMT)
Proton K launch of Express-AM2 (RSCC)

A Russian Proton rocket launched a military satellite early Friday, the first Proton launch since a failure in March. The Proton K rocket lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 7:59 pm EDT Thursday (0059 GMT Thursday, 3:59 am Moscow time Friday) and placed the Kosmos 2440 satellite into a geosynchronous orbit. Few details about the spacecraft were released, other than its mass, about 2,600 kilograms; various reports have described it as either a communications or missile warning satellite. The launch was the first for the Proton since a March 15 commercial launch, when an upper stage failure stranded its payload in a useless transfer orbit. The Proton is expected to return to commercial service later this summer.