A Russian communications satellite lifted off from a snow-covered launch pad in Kazakhstan on Monday, marking the 400th flight of a Proton rocket and the launcher’s first commercial mission in 10 months.
An International Launch Services Proton rocket blasted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on Monday with the Yamal 401 satellite, a 3.3-ton spacecraft to beam C-band and Ku-band communications services across Russia.
An International Launch Services Proton rocket launched at 7:16 p.m. EST Sunday (0016 GMT Monday) with the Yamal 401 communications satellite for Gazprom Space Systems. The rocket’s Breeze M upper stage will deploy the spacecraft into geostationary orbit about nine hours after liftoff.