Russia Launches Military Satellite

A Proton-K booster launched a Russian Cosmos military satellite into orbit early Wednesday from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakstan.

The booster is the same one to be used to launch the Russian-built Zvezda living module for the International Space Station next week.

Two failed Proton launches last year raised concerns about the rocket's reliability. Space officials say they have fixed a problem with the second-stage engines, and there have been several successful Proton launches this year.

The failures contributed to delays in launching Zvezda, which is more than two years behind schedule.









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