A Proton rocket blasted off from Kazakhstan 3 April ,2009 and deposited a versatile European communications satellite into orbit, beginning a 15-year mission that will introduce a state-of-the-art service to beam live television to cell phones, iPods and cars across Europe.
The 191-foot-tall rocket left the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 1624 GMT (12:24 p.m. EDT), turning northeast from the launch pad and tearing through the night sky on the power of six first stage RD-276 engines.
Eutelsat's 13,000-pound W2A spacecraft was bolted atop the rocket for the nine-hour mission.
The Proton's three core stages thrust W2A on a high-speed suborbital trajectory 10 minutes after liftoff.
The Breeze M upper stage, fueled by an explosive mix of hydrazine and nitrogen tetroxide, took over the flight and ignited for its first burn to place the payload into a low-altitude parking orbit.
The W2A satellite was deployed at about 0134 GMT Saturday (9:34 p.m. EDT Friday).
ILS markets the Proton rocket to international customers and manages commercial launches of the venerable booster.
After Friday's launch, the ILS backlog now stands at 22 missions. The next commercial Proton will launch the ProtoStar 2 direct-to-home broadcasting satellite that will cover India and Southeast Asia. That flight is scheduled for the middle of May, according to an ILS spokesperson
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