|
New Sirius XM Radio Satellite Blasts Off on Russian Rocket
Space.com
Sirius XM Radio's next broadcasting satellite rocketed away from Earth and into space Thursday, reaching a lofty perch high above Earth for a 15-year mission serving nearly 20 million subscribers in North America with music, news and variety programming.
The company's ninth satellite lifted off at 1853 GMT (2:53 p.m. EDT) from pad 24 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, the first commercial Proton rocket launch from that complex in more than five years.
The Proton lofted the Sirius XM 5 payload on a suborbital trajectory in less than 10 minutes, then a Breeze M upper stage fired as planned, according to International Launch Services, the Russian-owned, U.S.-based firm responsible for commercial Proton sales.
|
