A Russian Proton rocket carried a US-built communications satellite into space this week under a $1,000m program that opens a new chapter in US-Russian co-operation. The launch, seen on live television, was the first in which a Russian rocket transported an American satellite. The Asta-1F satellite should now be set to broadcast television pictures to central Europe. The Khrunichev Space Center, which makes the Proton rocket, said it was the first of 20 unmanned satellite launches planned by 2000 under an agreement between the center and the US-backed joint venture International Launch Services. The satellite was built by Hughes Space and Communications Co, a unit of Hughes Electronics Corp, itself a unit of General Motors Corp. It was ordered by Societe Europeenne des Satellites, which has already launched five similar satellites using French Ariane-4s.
