February 5, 2016, Paris, France-ILS and Khrunichev met with the leadership of Eutelsat in Paris to commemorate the successful launch of the EUTELSAT 9B satellite, the first satellite launched under the Multi-Launch Agreement (MLA), signed in the fall of last year. The MLA includes a series of several Eutelsat satellites to be launched over a period of seven years.

Among those included in the celebration were Michel de Rosen, Chairman and CEO of Eutelsat, Rodolphe Belmer, Deputy CEO of Eutelsat, Yohann LeRoy, CTO of Eutelsat, Andrey Kalinovskiy, Deputy General of Khrunichev, Farit Sharafeev, Deputy  Director General of Khrunichev, Kirk Pysher, ILS President and James Youdale, Managing Director, ILS Europe.

The EUTELSAT 9B satellite was placed into geosynchronous transfer orbit on January 30th by ILS Proton. After a series of post launch maneuvers, the satellite will be located at 9 degrees East. EUTELSAT 9B was the 12th satellite launched on Proton for Eutelsat and the 410th Proton launch overall since 1965.