*http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=11698737&PageNum=0
Russia launches Proton with US satellite aboard MOSCOW, July 7 (Itar-Tass)*-- *Russia*'s Proton-M carrier blasted off from Baikonur early on Saturday to put the U.S. heavy communication satellite of almost six tonnes into the geotransfer orbit for the first time in history, the Khrunichev Space Research and Production Centre, which makes the rockets, said. The launch took place at 05:16 Moscow time (1016 GMT), Federal Space Agency (Roskosmos) said. The Briz-M booster with the satellite detached from the rocket on the 581st second of the flight. The booster will then active its five engines to put the payload into the designated orbit at about 14:24 Moscow time (1024 GMT). The commercial multipurpose satellite Direc TV10, which was designed on the basis of the Boeing 702 platform, is the heaviest craft weighing 5,900 kilograms. The satellite will provide high-resolution digital television broadcasting service through cable and national nets in the U.S. mainland, Alaska and Hawaii. The operation life of the satellite is 15 years. The orbital group Direc TV10 currently consists of nine satellites. The satellite will be put into the geostationary orbit with a control point of 102.8 degrees East longitude. The Khrunichev has made some improvement in the Proton to increase its carrying capacity. As a result, it will be able to deliver payload to low and medium orbits and can be used for group launches. A new flight trajectory with a base line orbit inclination of 48 degrees will be used for delivering Direc TV10. During the previous launches the inclination was 51 degrees. According to Roskosmos, the first stage will fall some 320 kilometres from the launch site, the second stage and the nose cap 1,6590 kilometres from the launch site, and the third stage in the Pacific. Earlier, the Russian government allowed the Defence Ministry to launch the American satellite. The Prime-Tass news agency quoted the government's decree as saying that the Defence Ministry was allowed "to use on a contract basis the space systems, military complexes and personnel of military units for securing the launch of the spacecraft Direc TV10 from the Baikonur cosmodrome on the carrier rocket Proton-M with the upper stage Briz-M". [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
