A Russian carrier rocket put a U.S. telecommunications satellite into orbit on Sunday morning, the Russian Space Agency Roscosmos said.

A Proton-M rocket carrying the EchoStar 14 satellite was launched on Saturday from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan.

"The Proton-M rocket successfully put the EchoStar 14 satellite into orbit at 06.36 Moscow time [02.36 GMT] on Sunday," a Roscosmos spokesman told RIA Novosti.

A contract to launch the EchoStar 14 has been concluded between the Russian-U.S. joint venture International Launch Services (ILS) and the U.S. telecommunications company EchoStar.

EchoStar 14 has been built by Space Systems/Loral and is based on the company's LS-1300 platform, which features "qualified, flight proven subsystems and a long record of reliable operation."

The satellite will join DISH Network's fleet of satellites that serve more than 14 million satellite TV customers in the United States.

EchoStar was formerly the parent company of DISH Network, until the unit was spun off in December 2007.

MOSCOW, March 21 (RIA Novosti)