Q&A with Michel Denis, ExoMars flight director

A Proton rocket lifted off from Kazakhstan on Thursday with a large European-built telecommunications satellite to broadcast television, radio and other services across Russia and sub-Saharan Africa.

Look back on the May 30 launch of a Russian Proton rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan with this gallery of photos showing the 19-story launcher climbing into the sky with the Yamal 601 communications satellite.

Inverted cables on the Vega rocket’s upper stage control system apparently caused the launcher to tumble minutes after liftoff Monday night, a failure that resulted in the loss of a Spanish Earth observation satellite and a French research probe, Arianespace officials said Tuesday.