The Russo-Ukrainian rocket Zenit on Wednesday put the US telecommunications satellite Galaxy-19 in orbit, Russia's space flights regulator said.

"The Galaxy-19 satellite was launched at 0928 GMT and successfully put into orbit," the agency's spokesman Valeri Lyndine told AFP.

The satellite, manufactured by the California-based firm of Space Systems/Loral, has a wide footprint covering the United States, the Caribbean region as well as Canada and Mexico, he said.

The Zenit was launched from a floating platform in the Pacific Ocean run by Sea Launch, in which US, Russian, Norwegian and Ukrainian firms hold stakes, including aviation giant Boeing.