MOSCOW. Feb 11 (Interfax-AVN) - A Proton-M rocket, which was launched from Russia's principal Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan at 3:03 a.m. Moscow time Wednesday, has put two Russian telecommunications satellites, Express-AM44 and Express-MD1, into orbit.
The satellites coupled with a Briz-M upper stage reached a transfer orbit, and the upper stage is supposed to deliver the satellites to the target orbits later, the Khrunichev space research and production center, the rocket's producer, told Interfax.
The Express-AM44 should separate from Briz-M at 12:15 Moscow time on Wednesday, and the Express-MD1 satellite will separate from the upper stage fifteen minutes later, the Space Communications government enterprise, which is the owner and operator of the satellites, told Interfax.
The said satellites, which were designed and produced by Russian companies, will expand the orbital constellation of Russian telecommunications satellites.