A Russian Proton-M carrier rocket with a U.S. telecommunications satellite blasted off from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan on Sunday, a spokesman for Russian space agency Roskosmos said.
The launch took place at 20:29 Moscow time [16:29 GMT], the spokesman said.
The contract to put the satellite into space was signed between Russian-U.S. company International Launch Services (ILS) and Canadian MSV-Mobile Satellite Ventures.
The SkyTerra 1 is designed to provide voice and data services in L-band.
It was manufactured by Boeing and is based on the reliable Boeing 702 Geo-Mobile platform.
The satellite has a 22-meter L-band reflector for mobile terminal links complemented by a 1.5 meter Ku-band antenna.
SkyTerra 1 and its twin – SkyTerra 2 – will enable in the future the world's first commercial mobile satellite service using both space and terrestrial elements.
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