Ukraine's leading English-language newspaper since 1995

A Raduga-1 communications satellite, which has been launched into space for the Russian Defense Ministry interests, has been put into the final orbit, and the Space Forces have taken control of it.

"The Titov Space Test and Control Center took control of the spacecraft at 1:46 p.m.," Space Forces spokesman Lt. Col. Alexei Zolotukhin told Interfax on Saturday.

Stable telemetric communication has been established with the satellite, Zolotukhin said. "The Space Forces command center's information and public relations service reported that the Raduga-1 spacecraft's onboard systems are functioning well," he said.

A Proton-K space rocket carrying the satellite was launched from the Baikonur space center at 7:10 a.m. Moscow time Saturday. The DM-2 upper stage coupled with the satellite separated from the rocket's third stage about nine minutes later, and the DM-2 then delivered the satellite to the final orbit.