MOSCOW/BAIKONUR SPACE CENTER, June 18 (RIA Novosti) - A Russian carrier rocket has delivered Kazakhstan's first communications satellite into orbit, a spokesman for Russia's federal space agency said Sunday.

The Proton-K carrier rocket with Kazakhstan's KazSat satellite took off the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan at 02:44 a.m. Moscow time (10.44 p.m. GMT). The satellite separated from the rocket's acceleration unit strictly on schedule, at 09:32 a.m. Moscow time (05:32 a.m. GMT), the spokesman said.

President of Russia Vladimir Putin and President of Kazakhstan watched the satellite's launch.

The satellite has an active service life of 12.5 years and has been built by Russia's Khrunichev space center under a 2004 contract with the government of Kazakhstan. KazSat is designed to provide communications for Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and a part of Russia.