After many weeks of uncertainty, the owners of the Garuda communications satellite have finally established a firm launch date for their bird.

AceS International Ltd., a provider of mobile voice and data communications services in the Asia-Pacific region, plans to send its satellite into the orbit on a Proton rocket. The booster is scheduled to be launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome on February 19.

The Garuda 1 spacecraft, designed to provide cellular phone service, had been grounded since the October 27, 1999 Proton crash. The Russian federal investigation commission officially completed its work at the beginning of January, clearing the way for Protons return to flight.

The February 19 launch date was the first announced for the Proton booster since the October mishap. Earlier this week, Rosaviacosmos -- the Russian Aviation and Space Agency -- would not confirm whether Garuda would be on board the Protons first post-accident launch.

Rosaviacosmos representatives had previously said that a Russian payload would be launched on a Proton before any commercial mission takes place.

Garuda's owners have been under pressure from insurers not to launch the expensive spacecraft on the first post-failure launch. However, Rosaviacosmos has been struggled in the last two months to fund a federal payload for the launch.

The green light for the Garuda launch was given following the findings of the Failure Review Oversight Board (FROB). International Launch Services (ILS), who markets Proton internationally, set up the board to review the conclusions and the corrective actions planned by the Russian Federal Inter-Government Commission.

Following the two-month investigation, the federal commission blamed manufacturing flaws at the engine production plant in the city of Voronezh on two Proton failures in 1999.

After reviewing Russian findings during January 12-15 meetings in Moscow, the board issued its own status report Thursday. The document agreed with the Russian Government's conclusions. This cleared the way for the future commercial Proton launches.

Michelle Lyle, an ILS representative, said that all the engines to be used on upcoming Proton launches have been thoroughly inspected and cleared for flight. Still, before the end of the month, Voronezh Mechanical Plant (VMZ), which manufactures the engines, planned a test firing to simulate the conditions of the October 27 failure.

If the test firing validates the current explanation of the failures, FROB will issue yet another report, giving final go-ahead for Protons return to commercial use. ILS confirmed Friday that preparation for Garudas launch would resume in Baikonur next week.

The company plans six to nine commercial launches on Proton this year, Lyle said. Several more Protons are expected to carry payloads for the Russian federal space program.

ILS is a joint venture between the Moscow-based Khrunichev enterprise -- Proton's manufacturer -- and Lockheed Martin.