12.09 Russia Orbits 3 Telecoms Satellites � Defense Ministry

PLESETSK, September 12 (RIA Novosti) � Russia has orbited three communications satellites, a Defense Ministry spokesman said Thursday.

�The Rokot carrier rocket, launched today at 03:23 a.m. Moscow Time [23:23 GMT Wednesday] from the Plesetsk state space launch site, successfully put three Gonets-M communications satellites into the final orbit in due time,� Col. Alexei Zolotukhin said.

The launch followed a nine-month suspension due to attempts to fix a glitch in the rocket�s booster, Zolotukhin said Wednesday.

All launches of Rokots were suspended in January after the rocket�s Briz-KM booster failed to deliver three military satellites into their designated orbits, resulting in the loss of one of the satellites.