Article Posted on : - Nov 26, 2011

The Proton-M rocket lifts off with the Asiasat-7 satellite. A Roscosmos photo

MOSCOW (BNS): A Russian rocket successfully launched a Chinese communications satellite on Saturday, Federal Space agency Roscosmos said.

The Proton-M carrier rocket blasted off from the Baikonur space centre in Kazakhstan at 19:10 GMT with the Asiasat-7 satellite.

After 8 hours and 23 minutes, the spacecraft separated from the rocket and was placed in its designated geostationary transfer orbit.

The Chinese satellite, weighing over 3.8 metric tons, will provide communications and broadcasting services in East and South Asia.

Saturday's launch was the 8th Proton launch this year.

Russia had suspended the launch of Proton-M rockets after its state-of-the-art Express-AM4 telecommunications satellite had failed to reach orbit on August 18, 2011.

The Proton-M launch resumed in September when the rocket successfully placed in orbit the QuetzSat-1 telecommunications satellite. The rocket also launched three GLONASS satellites for Russia earlier this month.