Russian military satellite successfully sent into orbit
Xinhua, February 28, 2015 Adjust font size:
A Russian military satellite was sent into designated orbit Friday by a Soyuz-2.1a space rocket, the country's Aerospace Defense Forces spokesman Alexei Zolotukhin said.
The satellite separated from the rocket about 10 minutes after the launch at 14:01 Moscow time (1101 GMT) from Plesetsk cosmodrome in Russia's northern Arkhangelsk region.
"The satellite was placed into designated orbit at 15:45 Moscow time (1245 GMT) and its operations were later handed over to the Titov Main Test and Space Systems Control Center of the Aerospace Defense Forces Space Command," Zolotukhin said.
"Stable telemetry communications have been established and are maintained with the satellite, while its onboard systems operate normally," Tass news agency quoted the spokesman as saying.
It was the first launch that took place at Plesetsk this year, while the next launch of the Soyuz-2.1a rocket carrier is planned for April 28 at the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan.
The Soyuz-2.1a belongs to the Soyuz-2 rocket family, which replaced the Soyuz-U carrier rocket. Endite