MOSCOW, Sept. 21 (UPI) -- Russia has successfully launched a military satellite using its Proton-M carrier rocket, a Russian Defense Ministry Space Forces spokesman said.
"The launch on Wednesday ... from the Baikonur space center Proton-M carrier rocket successfully put a military spacecraft into orbit," Col. Alexei Zolotukhin told RIA Novosti.
The successful mission comes after the Russian space industry suffered an embarrassing string of launch failures, including that of a Soyuz-U booster that prevented a Progress M-12M cargo spacecraft from reaching orbit with supplies for the International Space Station.
The cargo module crashed to earth in Siberia.
Earlier, an Express-AM4 television and communications satellite atop a Proton-M failed to reach orbit Aug. 18.
