First Kazakh Satellite Launched

Kazakhstan's first telecommunications satellite was launched from Russia's Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan early Sunday in the presence of Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Kazakh counterpart Nursultan Nazarbayev.

By Space War Editorial Team · Editorial process

Published June 18, 2006

The KazSat telecom satellite was launched by a Russian Proton rocket at 4:44 a.m. local time and released from the rocket nine minutes later.

Seven hours after launch the Kazakh satellite was due to reach its permanent orbit.

Putin and Nazarbayev attended the launch at Baikonur, the former Soviet cosmodrome which Russia has leased from Kazakhstan since the disintegration of the Soviet Union.

The satellite was built in Russia by the same frim that manufactures the workhorse Proton rockets.

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The Space War Editorial Team produces content across our two editorial pillars: space industry news and Mind & Meaning. We cover launches, missions, satellites, defense, and the technology of getting humans to space, alongside the psychology of ambition, isolation, and meaning under extremes. Articles reflect our team's collective editorial process, source verification, drafting, technical review, and editing, rather than a single writer's work. Space War takes editorial responsibility for content under this byline. For more on how we work, see our editorial policy.