International Launch Services (ILS) oversaw the launch of two rockets yesterday originating on both sides of the Atlantic. A Proton/Breeze M rocket lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, carrying the AMC-12 satellite for SES Americom, and at Florida’s Cape Canaveral, an Atlas 3 lifted off with a classified payload for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office. The two launches occurred less than 10 hours apart and were the first missions of the year for the launch service provider.

The Proton vehicle lifted off at 9:27 p.m. EST Wednesday (7:27 a.m. today in Baikonur, 2:27 today GMT). After about 9 hours and 19 minutes of flight, the satellite separated from the launcher and went into orbit. AMC-12 is expected to go into service in April, providing communications for the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Alcatel Space of France built the satellite.

The Atlas 3 vehicle lifted off from Cape Canaveral’s Space Launch Complex 36B at 2:41 a.m. EST (7:41 GMT) carrying its government payload into orbit. The next scheduled ILS mission is at Cape Canaveral in March, where an Atlas 5 launch is slated to loft the Inmarsat 4-F1 satellite.