A powerful satellite will blast off on a Russian Proton rocket Friday to reach remote regions of South America with improved communications capacity.

Liftoff is scheduled for 1915 GMT (3:15 p.m. EDT) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

The Proton and Breeze M upper stage will deploy the Telstar 14R spacecraft more than 9 hours after launch, beginning a 15-year mission for Telesat of Ottawa, Canada.

The satellite is also named Estrela do Sul 2, Portuguese for southern star. The craft's communications payload features five coverage beams covering Brazil, the continental United States, the southern part of South America and the Andean region, including Central America.

These images show the Proton's rollout and erection on the launch pad Tuesday.

Photo credit: Khrunichev