Russia sent a Malaysian commercial telecom satellite into orbit from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan early Monday, local media reported.

The Zenit 3SLB rocket, with the Malaysian telecom satellite Measat 1R atop, successfully blasted off from Baikonur at around 1:50 a.m. Moscow time (2150 GMT Sunday), said Russian federal space agency Roscosmos.

Hours later the satellite will completely separate from the DM SLB booster of the rocket, and enter the geostationary orbit slot at 91.5 degrees EL.

The Measat 1R satellite was manufactured by a U.S. company with a designed service life of 15 years.

It will provide high-quality communications in Asia, Australia, the Middle East, Eastern Europe and Africa, the Itar-Tass news agency reported.

Zenit 3SLB was a 58-meter-long, three-stage launch vehicle developed by Russia's Yuzhnoye Design Office. It can put payloads of up to 14 tons into low orbits. 　

Source: Xinhua