Russia scored a morale-boosting second consecutive launch on 12 March from the Baikonur Cosmodrome of the four-stage Proton booster, with its DM upper stage, after suffering two failures last year.
The launch carried an Express A communications satellite, which was injected into a parking orbit of 226 x 195km (140 x 120 miles). The DM stage restarted, transferring the craft into geostationary orbit.
NASA International Space Station (ISS) chief engineer Frank Buzzard has expressed confidence in the Proton, which is to carry the Russian Zvezda ISS service module into orbit between 8 and 14 July. After a visit to the Voronezh manufacturing plant, Buzzard says problems with the booster's second stage have been solved and manufacturing processes improved.
Source: Flight International
