Proton-M successfully puts military purpose spacecraft into orbit

Russia's Proton-M carrier rocket successfully put a military satellite into orbit, Russian Defense Ministry Space Forces spokesman said. "The launch on Wednesday, September 21, at 02.47 GMT from the Baikonur space center Proton-M carrier rocket successfully put a military spacecraft into orbit," Col. Alexei Zolotukhin said. The successful launch will come as a relief to the Russian aerospace industry, which has recently suffered a string of launch failures. On August 18, a Russian Proton-M rocket lost an Express-AM4 satellite that was designed to provide digital television and secure government communications for Siberia and the Far East. One week after the Express-AM4 went off course, a Soyuz-U booster malfunctioned, preventing a Progress M-12M cargo spacecraft from reaching orbit and a link-up with the International Space Station.