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Happy Birthday, Proton!
The first Proton rocket (then Soviet) blasted off into the sky on 16 July 1965. Since then, the heavy Russian booster manufactured by the company Krunichev has completed over 335 missions (this photo shows the launch of Europe's scientific satellite Integral in 2002). With the fall of the Soviet Union, it became a competitor to be reckoned with on the commercial launch market. It placed the International Space Station's modules Zarya and Zvezda in orbit.
Photo credit: ESA- Stéphane Corvaja

Proton on Wikipedia

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