MOSCOW. May 12 (Interfax-AVN) - A Russian-Ukrainian rocket Zenit-3SLB will carry to orbit the Israeli telecom satellite Amos-4 in late 2012 - early 2013, International Space Services Deputy General Director Mikhail Gerasev told Interfax-AVN on Thursday.
"A contract on launching the Amos-4 satellite has been signed with Israel Aerospace Industries. The works are in progress. The launch is due in late 2012 - early 2013," he said.
The precise launch date is so far unknown. "So far, we have a six-month launch window, from December 2012 to May 2013," he said.
Russia launched the Israeli telecom satellite Amos-2 with a Soyuz-FG rocket in December 2003 and the Amos-3 satellite with a Zenit-3SLB rocket in April 2008.
There are plans to launch Amos-5 together with Russia's re-transmitter satellite Luch-5A with a Proton-M rocket at the end of 2011. Amos-5 is being built at the Reshetnev Information Satellite Systems company in Zheleznogorsk.