In a commercial mission Friday night that was anything but a sprint, the milestone 300th flight of the Russian Proton heavy-lifting rocket booster successfully launched a telecommunications satellite to cover North America.

The Proton K and its Breeze M upper stage blasted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 2215 GMT (6:15 p.m. EDT) on a marathon voyage that lasted nearly 9 hours, substantially longer than a typical commercial satellite deployment launch aboard other rockets.

The Proton rocket blasts off with AMC 9. Photo: ILS

The Breeze M performed five firings, the first to achieve a low-altitude parking orbit after separating from the Proton's three core stages. The later upper stage burns methodically raised the altitude into a geosynchronous transfer orbit where the AMC 9 spacecraft cargo was successfully released.

The orbit achieved has a high point of 35,736 km compared to the pre-flight prediction of 35,786 km, a perigee exactly on target at 6,661 km at perigee and an inclination of 17.43 degrees for the predicted 17.54 degrees.

"I extend warm congratulations to the entire team on the occasion of this picture-perfect launch and achieving the great 300th Proton mission milestone," said Dean Olmstead, president and CEO of satellite operator SES AMERICOM.

The mission was performed by International Launch Services, the joint venture formed eight years ago to globally market the Proton and American Atlas rocket families. This was the 27th Proton flight for ILS and the first in 2003.

"I am delighted that Proton's 300th mission was a success, and a success for one of our steadiest customers, SES AMERICOM. The launch of AMC 9 is the fifth by ILS for AMERICOM since we were established in 1995; we have another three satellites for AMERICOM in our manifest, two of which will be Atlas 2AS and one will be a Proton," said Mark Albrecht, president of ILS.

The 9,039-pound AMC 9 spacecraft, built by Alcatel Space of Cannes, France, will maneuver itself into a circular geostationary orbit 36,000 km above the equator where it will match Earth's rotation, appearing parked above the equator. Its final operational location is scheduled to be 85 degrees West longitude, pending FCC approval.

SES AMERICOM of Princeton, New Jersey, will operate AMC 9. The satellite carries 24 C-band and 24 Ku-band transponders to expand SES Americom's digital television broadcasting, data transmission and telecommunications services.

The AMC 9 spacecraft is hoisted atop the Breeze M upper stage during pre-launch preparations at Baikonur. Photo: ILS

"We are delighted that AMC 9 has been launched; this spacecraft has an important mission supporting both commercial and government communication networks. Alcatel has done a great job on AMC 9; I am also looking forward to the delivery of the next two satellites they are building for us, AMC 12 and AMC 13, which will greatly enhance our inter-regional capability," Olmstead added.

"Alcatel is most proud of our relationship with AMERICOM, considered one of the most demanding spacecraft operators in the industry. I have every confidence that AMC 9 will demonstrate the high caliber collaboration we have established ... in this case, the proof is in the satellite," said Pascale Sourisse, president and CEO of Alcatel Space.

AMC 9 will become the sixteenth satellite in the AMERICOM fleet. The satellite is expected to reach geostationary orbit and its testing orbital location at 81.9 degrees West by June 20. After a series of checkouts, the craft should be ready to enter service in July.

Two previous tries to launch this mission were scrubbed in April and May due to technical troubles with the rocket. Both episodes forced the rocket to be rolled off its launch pad and returned to processing facilities for repairs. The initial glitch was traced to a faulty data collection unit on the vehicle; the second involved replaced a gyro unit.

The Proton rocket with AMC 9 during its first transfer the launch pad in April. Photo: ILS

Before that, the mission was pushed back from earlier in the year in the wake of the Proton rocket failure last November, which left the Astra 1K satellite stranded in a useless low orbit. The cause was traced to the Block DM upper stage.

This launch was originally to use the Block DM. But after postponing the AMC 9 launch until the Block DM failure investigation was completed, the customers chose instead to use the flight-proven Breeze M option for this flight.

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