Express AM4 fragments drowned in Pacific

The Express AM4 telecom satellite, which failed to reach the designated orbit, was drowned in the Pacific Ocean on Sunday, the Federal Space Agency told Itar-Tass. “The satellite de-orbiting was finalised at 5:32 p.m. Moscow time. Satellite fragments, which did not burn in the atmosphere, drowned in northern areas of the Pacific restricted for shipping and flights,” the agency said. The approximately $300 million satellite was supposed to promote digital television in Russia with multimedia services, including digital TV and radio broadcast, telephony, videoconference services, data transmission and the Internet access.