A Proton-M carrier rocket with a European telecoms satellite lifted off from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan on Monday, for the first time since the launch failure in July, Russia's space agency said.
The suspension of Proton launches was ordered in July after a Proton-M rocket carrying three satellites for the Glonass positioning system, Russia's answer to the GPS, crashed in a ball of flames, seconds after blasting off. The reason for the accident was that three sensors in the rocket had been installed upside down, an investigation said.
Monday's launch of the Proton-M carrying the Astra 2E telecoms satellite was initially scheduled to take place on Sept. 12, but was postponed indefinitely due to a glitch in its first stage.
A YouTube video showing the successful launch of the Proton-M rocket on Sept. 30., 2013.
"The Proton's launch went ahead as planned at 1:38 Moscow time. The separation of the spacecraft from the Briz-M booster is expected to take place at 10:50 a.m.," a spokesman for the space agency, known as Roscosmos, said.
The July incident was the latest in a series of setbacks for Russia's space program, which has been blighted by the loss of rockets and satellites, and a large corruption scandal around the Glonass program.
A YouTube video showing the failed launch of the Proton-M rocket on July 2, 2013.
