MOSCOW, January 10 (RIA Novosti) - The first Proton-M launch of 2008, carrying an Express-AM33 satellite, is scheduled for January 28 at the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan, a leading Russian space company said on Thursday.

The Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center said in a press statement that the carrier rocket, with a Briz-M booster, was on schedule for take-off.

The Express-AM33 was designed by the Reshetnev Applied Mechanics Scientific and Production Association (NPO PM) to provide TV and satellite communications all over the Russian Federation.