Russia launched a Proton-M rocket carrying two communications satellites from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan on Sunday, the federal space agency Roscosmos said.

Roscosmos said the rocket was launched at 15:17 Moscow time (1117 GMT) and would send one Russian and one Israeli satellite into orbit.

"The separation of Russia's Luch-5A spacecraft is scheduled for 00:11 Moscow time on Monday (2011 GMT Sunday), while Israel's Amos-5 satellite will separate at 00:52 Moscow time (2052 GMT Sunday)," Roscosmos said.

The agency said the Luch-5A satellite was designed to relay information from low-flying space objects in order to track them along their trajectories.

Israel's AMOS-5 will join the satellite grouping of AMOS-2 and AMOS-3 to provide various satellite services to customers in the Middle East, Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia and Africa.

VietNamNet/Xinhuanet