Russian rocket puts military satellite into orbit

Russia's Proton-M carrier rocket put a military satellite into orbit Wednesday, said a spokesman for the Russian Defense Ministry Space Forces. Col. Alexei Zolotukhin told reporters that the Briz-M upper stage atop the Proton-M put the satellite into the target orbit at 11:48 Moscow time (0748 GMT). The satellite, belonging to the Russian Defense Ministry, was launched along with the Proton-M rocket at 02:47 Moscow time (2247 GMT Tuesday) from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan. The launch of the Proton-M rocket was the first one since a series setbacks of Russian rocket launch in August. On Aug 18, a Proton-M carrier rocket failed to deliver a communication satellite Express-AM4 to the orbit. After the failure, Russia decided to suspend launches of rocket Proton-M pending the outcome of a probe into the accident. On Aug. 24, a Progress M-12M cargo ship also failed to reach the orbit due to a rocket malfunction. Later, Russia delayed the launch of next manned spaceship to the International Space Station (ISS).