Russian-built Soyuz rocket successfully places Spanish satellite into orbit

French Guiana: A Russian-built Soyuz rocket has successfully placed a Spanish satellite into orbit.

The rocket blasted off from French Guiana and successfully placed into orbit a Spanish telecommunications satellite, at 10:30 pm local time Friday (0130 GMT Saturday).

The Hispasat 36W-1 satellite that was placed into geostationary orbit is the first to be built using Europe`s new SmallGEO platform developed by Germany`s OHB System AG under the European Space Agency`s Advanced Research in Telecommunications Systems programme, Arianespace said.

It "will provide a wide range of communications services for continental Europe, the Canary Islands and South America."

It was the first launch of the year by Arianespace, which plans a total of 12 throughout 2017.

(With AFP inputs)