Two Russian carrier rockets are scheduled to blast off next month from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan, a spokesperson for the Russian space agency Roscosmos said on Friday.

"In February, we are planning to launch Soyuz-U carrier rocket with ProgressM-22M space freighter and Proton-M spacecraft carrying Turkish telecommunications satellite TurkSat-4A from the Baikonur space center," the spokesman said.

He added that preparations for the launches entered their active stage and both spacecraft were readied to be filled with fuel.

Last month the space agency announced that Progress M-22M cargo spacecraft was planned be launched on its resupply mission to the International Space Station (ISS) on February 5.

The official date for the launch of Proton-M, equipped with Briz-M booster and carrying TurkSat-4A satellite, has not been announced yet.

Turkish TurkSat-4A telecommunications satellite was built by Japan's Mitsubishi Electric (MELCO) company and is intended to provide direct TV and broadband Internet services to consumers in Turkey, Europe, Central Asia, Middle East and Africa.

Source: Voice of Russia