Specialists from the Roscosmos State Corporation have installed the Proton-M launch vehicle with the Elektro-L No. 5 hydrometeorological satellite at the Baikonur launch complex. After the rocket was erected, they continued pre-launch preparations, as reported by the organization.
The launch is scheduled for February 12, 2026. This will be the first launch of Proton in almost three years – the previous one took place in 2023 – and also the last for the DM-type upper stage.
Initially, the launch was scheduled for December 15, 2025, at 15:20 Moscow time, but it was postponed to eliminate inconsistencies in the upper stage that were identified during inspections. Roscosmos noted that this will not affect the scientific program.
Elektro-L satellites in geostationary orbit provide multispectral images of cloud cover and the Earth's surface, collect hydrometeorological data, exchange information, and relay signals from the KOSPAS-SARSAT system. The first series spacecraft was launched in 2011, but communication with it was lost in 2016; No. 2 was launched in 2015, No. 3 in 2019.
Proton-M is a Russian single-use launch vehicle from the Proton family, developed in the 1960s. It is used to launch navigation, military, commercial satellites, and interplanetary stations.
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