Russia's Space Forces launch spacecraft from Baikonur Wed

MOSCOW, September 21 (Itar-Tass) - A Proton-M carrier rocket with a
spacecraft in the interests of the Defence Ministry has been successfully
launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome on Wednesday, Colonel Alexei
Zolotukhin, spokeesman of the Space Forces of Russia (SFR), has told
Itar-Tass.
Zolotukhin said, "At 02:47 on Wednesday, a Proton-M carrier rocket
with a spacecraft in the interests of the Russian Ministry of Defence was
successfully launched from a site at Baikonur cosmodrome. SFR teams
ensured the monitoring of the space launch by means of ground automatic
control system".
"The rocket lifted off in a standard mode," Zolotukhin added. "At
02:52, the monitoring of the carrier rocket Proton-M was picked up by the
GhermanTitov Main center for the testing and control of space systems in
the zone of radio visibility of ground control system facilities," he said.
According to Zolotukhin, "The spacecraft is set to separate from the
Briz-M booster at 11:46, Moscow time, on Sept 21".