Russia’s Proton-M Puts Canadian Satellite into Orbit

MOSCOW, April 16 (RIA Novosti) - A Russian Proton-M carrier rocket delivered a Canadian telecommunications satellite, Anik-G1, into orbit on Tuesday, a spokesman for Russia's space agency said.

The rocket blasted off from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan at 22:36 Moscow time.

"The foreign satellite separated from the Briz-M at the designated time and control over the satellite has been passed to the client [the Canadian Telesat]," a spokesman for the Russian Federal Space Agency said.

Anik-G1 was built by US company Space Systems/Loral for the Canadian Telesat. It will provide telecommunications services in South America, Canada, the United States and Pacific. The spacecraft has the life span of 15 years.