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Russia Launches Kazakh Satellite |
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BAIKONUR SPACE CENTER, Kazakhstan, June 19, 2006/Satnews Daily/ — A Russian carrier rocket delivered on Sunday Kazakhstan's first communications satellite into orbit, a spokesman for Russia's federal space agency announced.
The Proton-K carrier rocket with Kazakhstan's KazSat satellite took off the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan at 02:44 a.m. Moscow time (10.44 p.m. GMT). The satellite separated from the rocket's acceleration unit strictly on schedule, at 09:32 a.m. Moscow time (05:32 a.m. GMT), the spokesman said.
Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin witnessed the launch of the Russian-built KazSat 1 at Baikonur cosmodrome, the world's largest space center.
The satellite will have an active service life of 12.5 years and was built by Russia's Khrunichev space center under a 2004 contract with the government of Kazakhstan. KazSat is designed to provide TV broadcast and communications for Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and a part of Russia, according to RIA Novosti.
The Kazakh government aspires to become a space-exploring nation and is making the development of the space industry a strategic goal for the country. Kazakhstan has prepared a national space program to run until 2020.
The plan includes projects to create Kazakhstan's own design bureau with assembly and testing facilities which would build small satellites weighing from 80 to 160 kg.
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