MOSCOW. June 19 (Interfax-AVN) - A Russian launch vehicle, Kosmos-3M, has put six American telecommunications satellites into orbit, a spokesman for the Russian Strategic Rocket Forces told Interfax-AVN.
"The satellites have been put into a stable orbit," he said.
The Kosmos-3M lifted off from Russia's Kapustin Yar launch pad some ten minutes ago. It carried into space five Orbcomm satellites and one concept demonstration satellite. The satellites weigh 1,070 kilograms, in all.
The Orbcomm satellites have increased the number of commercial telecommunications satellites intended for receiving and transmitting data from any part of the world. The Orbcomm system provides two-way global data exchange in a digital format, as well as coordinate defining services. The concept demonstration satellite has become part of the Orbcomm system as well.
The Orbcomm satellite project involves three countries - Russia, the United States and Germany.
Russia is responsible for launch services. The U.S. company Orbcomm is the customer of launch services and operator of the Orbcomm satellite telecommunications system. And the German company OHB System is in charge of developing satellites and is the integrator of the payload.