Sirius XM Radio satellite begins lengthy trip to orbit

Sirius XM Radio's next broadcasting satellite rocketed away from Earth and into space Thursday, beginning a nine-hour journey to place the craft on track for a 15-year mission serving nearly 20 million subscribers in North America with music, news and variety programming. The company's ninth satellite lifted off at 1853 GMT (2:53 p.m. EDT) from pad 24 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, the first commercial Proton rocket launch from that complex in more than five years. More

(Source: Space Flight Now - Oct 15)