International Launch Services confirms the completion of the Breeze M's third burn, a successful jettison of the stage's auxiliary propellant tank, and a good fourth engine burn.

The Breeze M and ASTRA 2G should now be in a transfer orbit with a low point of 270 miles, a high point of 22,218 miles, and an inclination of 49.1 degrees.

The upper stage will coast for nearly five hours before igniting a fifth and final time for about six minutes to inject ASTRA 2G into an egg-shaped geostationary transfer orbit.

Separation of the 6.6-ton ASTRA 2G satellite is scheduled for 0649 GMT (1:49 a.m. EST).

The Breeze M upper stage has finished the second of five burns planned for today's mission, ILS says. The nearly 18-minute burn was supposed to place the stage and ASTRA 2G in an intermediate orbit with a low point of 167 miles, a high point of 3,106 miles and an inclination of 50.3 degrees.

After a two-hour coast, the Breeze M is expected to ignite its main engine again at about 0106 GMT (8:06 p.m. EST) for another maneuver, followed by the jettison of the stage's auxiliary propellant tank, and ignition of the engine's fourth firing.

ILS says these maneuvers will occur when the Breeze M is out of communications with ground stations, so confirmation of their completion will come when antennas re-acquire signals from the rocket shortly after the end of the fourth burn.

T+plus 18 minutes. International Launch Services confirms the Breeze M upper stage has completed the first of four burns in this mission. The first burn was designed to accelerate the rocket and payload from a suborbital trajectory into a low-altitude parking orbit.

The Breeze M is now in a coast phase until ignition of the second upper stage burn at about 2244 GMT (5:44 p.m. EST).

Separation of the ASTRA 2G satellite is scheduled after the Breeze M's fifth burn at 0649 GMT (1:49 a.m. EST).

T+plus 18 minutes. International Launch Services confirms the Breeze M upper stage has completed the first of four burns in this mission. The first burn was designed to accelerate the rocket and payload from a suborbital trajectory into a low-altitude parking orbit.

The Breeze M is now in a coast phase until ignition of the second upper stage burn at about 2244 GMT (5:44 p.m. EST).

Separation of the ASTRA 2G satellite is scheduled after the Breeze M's fifth burn at 0649 GMT (1:49 a.m. EST).

T+plus 15 minutes. Officials confirm successful shutdown of the Proton's third stage, separation of the Breeze M upper stage, and ignition of the Breeze M engine for the first of five burns on today's mission.

This first burn should last about four-and-a-half minutes, placing the Breeze M and ASTRA 2G in a circular parking orbit 108 miles high with an inclination of 51.6 degrees.

T+plus 7 minutes. Proton's second stage has been confirmed to have separated, and the third stage RD-0213 engine has begun its burn, producing 131,000 pounds of thrust. The rocket's payload fairing has also been released now that the launcher is in the upper atmosphere.

T+plus 3 minutes, 30 seconds. The second stage's RD-0211 main engine and RD-0210 vernier engines continue firing at full power of 540,000 pounds of thrust.

T+plus 2 minutes, 25 seconds. ILS has confirmed the Proton's first stage has shut down and jettisoned, and the second stage engines are firing with a half-million pounds of thrust.

T+plus 70 seconds. The Proton rocket has passed the speed of sound and the phase of maximum aerodynamic pressure as it heads northeast from Baikonur.

Liftoff of the Proton rocket with ASTRA 2G, a 6.6-ton communications satellite for SES of Luxembourg.

T-minus 60 seconds minutes. The ignition sequence for the six first stage RD-276 engines begins at T-minus 2.5 seconds, reaching a 40 percent thrust level at T-minus 1.75 seconds and 100 percent thrust at T-minus 0.9 seconds.

T-minus 2 minutes. The countdown is being run by a master computer sequencer.

T-minus 5 minutes. ASTRA 2G marks the 24th satellite owned by SES of Luxembourg to launch on an International Launch Services Proton rocket. SES was the customer for the first ILS Proton launch with the flight of ASTRA 1F in 1996.

T-minus 8 minutes. The readiness of the Proton core vehicle, the Breeze M upper stage and ASTRA 2G will be verified over the next few minutes.

T-minus 10 minutes. The Proton launcher on the pad weighs about 1.5 million pounds, and it will be powered into the sky by six first stage RD-276 engines producing more than 2 million pounds of thrust. It will turn to the northeast on an initial launch azimuth of 61.3 degrees.

The ASTRA 2G satellite weighs about 6,002 kilograms, or 13,232 pounds, at liftoff. ASTRA 2G was transitioned to internal power a few minutes ago.

T-minus 11 minutes. The final launch pad workers are evacuating to a safe distance away from the rocket.

It's a frigid morning in Baikonur, with temperatures between 23 and 26 degrees Fahrenheit. Surface winds are acceptable and upper level winds are within limits.

With 15 minutes left in the countdown, everything remains on schedule for launch at 2137:49 GMT (4:37 p.m. EST; 3:37 a.m. Baikonur time). It will take more than 9 hours to deploy ASTRA 2G in the proper orbit.

The Proton rocket's first stage will blast off powered by six RD-276 engines producing more than 2 million pounds of thrust. The 191-foot-tall launcher will ascend northeast from Baikonur, dropping its first stage 2 minutes after liftoff, giving way to the Proton's second stage RD-0211 main engine for a three-and-a-half minute burn.

The Proton's third stage, using a RD-0213 main engine with 131,000 pounds of thrust, next will fire for about four minutes. Separation of the 13.1-foot-diameter nose cone occurs during the third stage burn at T+plus 5 minutes, 47 seconds.

The Breeze M upper stage will assume control at T+plus 9 minutes, 42 seconds, when it separates from the Proton's third stage. Five Breeze M engine burns are planned over a nine-hour period to inject the 13,232-pound ASTRA 2G spacecraft in the proper geostationary transfer orbit with a low point of 2,586 miles (4,163 kilometers), a high point of 22,236 miles (35,786 kilometers) and an inclination of 23 degrees.

Liftoff of the Proton rocket is 30 minutes away. This will be the:

• 401st Proton rocket launch since 1965
• 87th International Launch Services Proton since 1996
• 79th Proton M using a Breeze M upper stage since 2001
• 18th Airbus Defense and Space satellite launched on ILS Proton
• 24th SES satellite launched on ILS Proton
• 8th Proton of 2014
• 21st launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in 2014

Russian officials have given approval to fuel the Proton rocket for liftoff at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 2137 GMT (4:37 p.m. EST).

The Breeze M upper stage has already been filled with its hypergolic propellant mixture, and the three-stage Proton booster will be fueled with liquid hydrazine and nitrogen tetroxide in the next few hours.

The 191-foot-tall Proton M rocket rolled to the launch pad at Baikonur on Dec. 24, riding a railroad car before it was lifted upright on the launch mount. A mobile gantry with access platforms for workers was then installed around the rocket.

The ASTRA 2G satellite owned by SES of Luxembourg, one of the world's big three communications satellite operators, is shrouded on top of the Proton rocket.

Built by Airbus Defense and Space, the 13,232-pound spacecraft will provide customers in Europe, Africa and the Middle East with Ku-band and Ka-band communications services over a 15-year mission.

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