Proton-M returns to flight with Russian military launch

Russia’s Proton-M rocket has successfully conducted a return-to-flight mission Sunday with the deployment of a military satellite for the Russian government. The mission, carrying a payload named Olimp, ends four months of downtime for Russia’s heavy-lift rocket following a launch failure in May.

The Proton-M, which is the largest and most powerful rocket in Russia’s fleet, first flew in 2001 although its design is much older.

A modernised version of the earlier Proton-K, which was used from 1967 to 2012, the Proton-M can trace its lineage back to Vladimir Chelomei’s Universal Rocket concept; a planned series of missiles to provide the Soviet military with a series of similar but increasingly powerful missiles.

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