Early this morning, Russia launched the Blagovest-13L communications satellite for the Ministry of Defense aboard a Proton-M rocket. The launch was the second Proton-M mission of 2018 and the 418th launch in the history of the Proton launch vehicle (including all variants).
The Blagovest-13L communications satellite was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 00:20 UTC (05:20 local time) this morning. Following first stage separation, the rocket’s Briz-M upper stage deployed the satellite into its designated Geosynchronous orbit.
In a press release (published in Russian), Roscosmos officials confirmed that the mission had been successful and that Russian Aerospace Forces (VKS) had acquired a signal from the satellite.
