Ekspress-A2 ( meaning Express-A2), also designated Ekspress-6A No 2 and sometimes erroneously called Ekspress-2A, is a Russian communications satellite which is operated by Russian Satellite Communications Company (RSCC). It was constructed by NPO PM and Alcatel Space and is based on the MSS-2500-GSO satellite bus.
The launch was contracted by Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center, and used a Proton-K / Blok DM-2M launch vehicle flying from Site 200/39 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome.
Ekspress-2A is a Russian geosynchronous communications spacecraft that was launched on 12 March 2000 from Baikonur by a Proton-K launch vehicle at 04:07:00 UTC. USSPACECOM had tentatively named it Express-6A. The spacecraft carries 12 transponders in C-band and five in Ku-band to provide voice, data, and video communications in Russia from the parked longitude of 80ð east, supplementing the existing fleet of seven Gorizont, two Ekspress and an EKRAN-M. Ekspress are scheduled to replace the aging Gorizont fleet.
It is part of the Ekspress network of satellites. Following its launch and on-orbit testing, it was placed in geostationary orbit at 103ð East, from where it provides communications services to Russia. It is equipped with seventeen transponders. In October 2015, the satellite was retired and moved to a graveyard orbit above the geostationary orbit.