ISTANBUL (WAM)

Türkiye's first home-grown communications satellite, Turksat 6A, successfully deployed on Monday, Anadolu Agency reported.

The deployment took place at 8.05 pm Eastern Daylight Time (0005GMT Tuesday).

The launch was realised at 7.30 pm EDT (2330GMT) on Monday from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in the US state of Florida by SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket.

The 4.25-ton satellite will operate at the 42 degrees East orbital position and its service life will be 15 years in orbit.

It will cover Türkiye, Europe, North Africa, the Middle East and Asia and will serve 4.5 billion people for TV, radio and emergency communications.