Russia plans five Proton-M carrier rocket launches this year, including three commercial launches, Khrunichev Space Center CEO Andrei Kalinovsky told TASS on Wednesday.

"Our plans for this year also additionally include four Proton-M carrier rocket launches. These are two commercial launches with Amazonas 5 and AsiaSat 9 satellites, and also two federal launches," the chief executive said.

Also, a Proton-M carrier rocket is planned to blast off from the Baikonur space center on June 8 to orbit an EchoStar-21 satellite. The launch is scheduled for 06:45 Moscow time.

The previous launch of the Proton carrier rocket took place on June 9, 2016. The launcher delivered an Intelsat-31 commercial satellite into orbit.