The Proton-M rocket with a Briz-M upper stage launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome launchpad 81/24 in Kazakhstan at 20:23 UTC.
"[4] Attempts by Intelsat to contact the owners of the Russian satellite directly and via the US Defense Department did not receive a response.
Members of the space community consider the incident to be among the first documented instances of a foreign military satellite approaching a commercial operator in such a manner.
[4] In a 5 October analysis of Russian proximity and rendezvous operations written for the Space Review, Secure World Foundation technical adviser Brian Weeden highlighted Olymp-K's movements.
In his paper, he wrote that many Russian space program observers believe the satellite mission involves signals intelligence or communications.
[13] Sources have also reported that the satellite has an onboard laser communications device and will provide the GLONASS system with navigation correction signals.