Hong Kong – AsiaSat 5 aboard an ILS Proton launch vehicle lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at Hong Kong time 3:47:33 am on August 12. All operations have been reported normal, with the separation of the AsiaSat 5 spacecraft and the launch vehicle scheduled to occur approximately 9 hours and 15 minutes after liftoff. AsiaSat 5, based on a Space Systems/Loral’s 1300 satellite bus, will replace AsiaSat 2 at the orbital location of 100.5 degrees East, to continue to provide advanced satellite services including television broadcast, telephone networks and VSAT networks for broadband multimedia services across Asia Pacific.