Editing Proton (rocket family) (section)

=== Phase III ===
An enhanced variant, the Phase III Proton-M/Briz-M launch vehicle, was flight proven on the Russian Federal dual mission of Express AM-44 and Express MD-1 in February 2009 and performed its first commercial launch in March 2010 with the Echostar XIV satellite. The Proton-M/Briz-M phase III configuration provides 6150&nbsp;kg of GTO performance, an increase of 1150&nbsp;kg over the original Proton-M Briz-M, while maintaining the fundamental design configuration.

On 6 August 2012, the Russian Federal Space Agency lost a Russian and an Indonesian communications satellite in an attempt to launch them into orbit on a Proton-M due to technical difficulties with the last stage.<ref name="latimes">{{cite web|url=http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/world_now/2012/08/russia-suffers-another-embarrassing-failure-in-space-.html|title=News from around the world|date=7 August 2012|publisher=latimesblogs.latimes.com|access-date=13 September 2014}}</ref>

On 2 July 2013, a Proton-M launching three [[GLONASS]] navigation satellites experienced a failure reminiscent of the 1960s disasters shortly after liftoff when the booster crashed near LC-39 at Baikonour, ending a 30-year unbroken stretch without a first stage failure; all future Proton flights were suspended pending investigation.<ref name="rswproton">{{cite web |url=http://russianspaceweb.com/proton_glonass49.html |title=Russia's Proton crashes with a trio of navigation satellites |date=2 July 2013 |publisher=Russian Space Web}}</ref> The accident was eventually determined to be caused by the rate gyro package having been installed upside-down. Due to the difficulty of installing the package incorrectly, it was widely suspected that it had been done deliberately by a disgruntled or drunk worker at the Khrunichev plant.{{citation needed|date=February 2022}}

On 15 May 2014, a Proton-M/Briz-M carrying an Ekspress satellite suffered a third stage failure from a bad turbopump bearing. Debris fell in Manchuria. On 21 October, another Ekspress satellite was left in a useless orbit when the Briz stage cut off 24 seconds too early.

On 16 May 2015, a [[Mexican Satellite System|MEXSAT]] communications satellite failed to orbit due to another third stage malfunction, the eighth Proton failure since 2010.