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Russian rocket takes European telecom satellite into orbit
MOSCOW (AFP) Mar 16, 2004
 A Russian Proton-M rocket on Tuesday took European telecommunications satellite W3A into orbit after its launch from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, Russian space officials announced.

The rocket was launched at 4:06 am (2306 GMT Monday), Ria-Novosti news agency cited the officials as saying.

The W3A satellite was designed and manufactured by European satellite builder EADS Astrium for Eutelsat, Europe's largest satellite-services company.

It is to cover Europe and Africa for a minimum 15 years.

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