Russia launches Proton-M rocket

Rocket at Russian leased Baikonur cosmodrome Moscow - Arab today Russia successfully launched a Proton-M rocket carrying a military satellite in the early hours of Tuesday from its Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The launch took place at 03:46 Moscow time (23:46 GMT) carrying a satellite for the Russian defence ministry, the Russian space agency Roscosmos said. Russia restarted launches of Proton rockets in September after a pause to investigate why one exploded on takeoff on July 2. The Proton-M rocket is Russia's most popular for commercial satellite launches. Roscomos chief Vladimir Popovkin was dismissed in October after two and a half years, with Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev complaining of a "whole number of problems" in the space agency's work. Source: AFP