MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 14th August, 2018) Russia will launch as many as three Proton-M carrier rockets in the first quarter of 2019 after a noticeable reduction in launches in previous three years due to discovered problems with rocket engines, a Russian space industry source told Sputnik.
"Three launches are planned for the first quarter of 2019. Namely, the commercial launch of Eutelsat 5 WestB and MEV-1 satellites, the commercial launch of the Russian Yamal-601 telecommunications satellite and the launch of the Blagovest No. 4 military communications satellite," the source said.
Russia launched eight Proton-Ms in 2014 and the same number in 2015. There were three launches in 2016, but during one of the launches that year, a malfunction in one of the engines almost led to a launch failure. Russia's space corporation Roscosmos decided to recall a batch of rocket engines for reassembling, which resulted in a suspension of Proton-M launches for a year.
Four Proton launches took place in 2017, while in 2018 there was only one launch so far with another one planned later this year.
