Russia launches two telecoms satellites

A Proton-M carrier rocket with two telecommunications satellites onboard blasted off from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan on Sunday, Russia's space agency Roscosmos spokesman said.«The separation of Russia's Luch-5A spacecraft is scheduled for 00:11 on Monday [20:11 GMT Sunday], while Israel's Amos-5 satellite will separate at 00.52 Moscow time [20.52 GMT],» the spokesman said.The Luch-5A satellite will provide communications with the Russian segment of the International Space Station.Israel's AMOS-5 will join the satellite grouping of AMOS-2 and AMOS-3 to provide various satellite services to customers in the Middle East, Central and Eastern Europe, Central Asia and Africa. Equipped with 18 C-band and 16 Ku-band transponders, the satellite has a life span of 15 years.