The Proton rocket blasts off with the Express AM-22 satellite. Credit: RSCC TV

The first in a new series of Russian communications satellites successfully rose to space Sunday night aboard a Proton rocket.

The Russian-made booster lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 2300 GMT (6 p.m. EST) carrying the domestic Express AM-22 communications satellite.

Live video from the launch base in Central Asia showed the rocket being swallowed by low clouds over the pad just seconds after nighttime liftoff.

The Proton rocket heads into a cloud deck just after launch. Credit: RSCC TV

After a lengthy flight, the launch vehicle delivered the spacecraft into its perch high above Earth.

The craft will be operated by the Russian Satellite Communications Company (RSCC) from geostationary orbit 36,000 km above the equator at 53 degrees East longitude.

The launch represents "a new stage in the development of the Federal Space Program of the Russian Federation," RSCC says. "Express AM-22 is the first of five Express AM-series satellites that will be manufactured and deployed in GEO by 2005."

The Express AM-22 spacecraft is the first of a new series of Russian communications satellites. Credit: RSCC

The new satellite fleet will be more powerful, have longer lifetimes and increased capacities than previous models.

Following its successful arrival in space and a thorough testing procedure, Express AM-22 will begin operating to provide digital television, telephony, videoconferencing, data transmission and the Internet access services.

The craft was built by NPO PM and Alcatel Space. It carries 24 Ku-band transponders, two fixed antennas, two mobile spotbeam antennas and is designed to function for 12 years.

The communications payload was produced at Alcatel Space's Toulouse plant and checked out in its Cannes integration and test facility. It was then shipped to Zheleznogorsk in Siberia for installation on the satellite structure.

The Express AM-22 spacecraft is the first of a new series of Russian communications satellites. Credit: RSCC

The next Express launch is scheduled for springtime.

Today's mission was the fifth and final of 2003 for Russia's heavy-lifting Proton rocket. Three of the launches have been performed in the past month.