Aug. 18

Russian space agency Roscosmos has found the Express-AM4 communication satellite, which went missing after its launch earlier Thursday, a spokesman of the agency said.

The high-power Express-AM4 communications satellite, launched on a Russian Proton rocket from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan, was to provide digital television, telephone and Internet services across Russia and other former Soviet Union countries. However, the ground lost contact with the satellite hours after the launch.

The Roscosmos spokesman told media the satellite and its booster, Briz-M, had gone into an off-design orbit.

According to Roscosmos, the first four engine burns by the Proton-M carrier rocket worked properly during the launch but problems occurred before the fifth burn due to a malfunction in communications with the space vehicle.

Agency chief Vladimir Popovkin said a commission had been set up to investigate the cause of the malfunction.

The 5.8-ton satellite was designed and built jointly by state-controlled Khrunichev State Research and Production Center and Astrium, a subsidiary of the European Aeronautic, Defense and Space Corporation (EADS).