Photos of Tuesday's Proton launch

Russia's Express AM6 communications satellite lifted off aboard a Proton rocket Tuesday and reached its targeted geostationary transfer orbit after a nine-hour climb thousands of miles above Earth.

Powered by six RD-276 engines generating nearly 2.5 million pounds of thrust, the Proton rocket launched at 1509 GMT (11:09 a.m. EDT) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, where it was 9:09 p.m. local time.

Turning east from the historic launch base, the 191-foot-tall three-stage rocket accelerated to nearly orbital velocity -- about 17,000 mph -- before deploying a Breeze M upper stage for a series of four burns to put the Express AM6 satellite in the correct orbit.

Separation of the 3,400-kilogram, or 7,500-pound, Express AM6 satellite occurred at 0031 GMT Wednesday (8:31 p.m. EDT Tuesday), according to Roscosmos, the Russian Federal Space Agency.

The satellite cleanly separated into the launch's targeted orbit, Roscosmos said.

Tuesday's launch marked the:

• 399th Proton rocket launch since 1965
• 77th Proton M using a Breeze M upper stage since 2001
• 6th Proton launch of 2014
• 15th launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in 2014

Credit: Roscosmos
 

Credit: Roscosmos