Russia launches new military spacecraft (VIDEO)

The undisclosed craft was sent aboard a Soyuz-2.1b rocket from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome, the Defense Ministry said

Russia has successfully placed a new military spacecraft into orbit aboard a Soyuz-2.1b rocket launched from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Arkhangelsk Region, the Defense Ministry has said. The type and specific mission of the spacecraft have not been disclosed.

A combat crew of the Russian Space Forces launched the medium-class rocket at 5:40 AM Moscow time on Monday. The spacecraft was sent up “in the interests of the Russian Defense Ministry,” according to an official statement.

The spacecraft reached its designated orbit and was taken under the control of ground-based Space Forces systems.

“Stable telemetry communication has been established and maintained with the spacecraft, its onboard systems are functioning normally,” the ministry said. The flight and deployment proceeded as planned.

After the launch, the Soyuz-2.1b and its payload were tracked by the ground-based automated control complex of the German Titov Main Test Space Center, which is responsible for controlling and monitoring Russian military spacecraft.

The Soyuz-2.1b is a disposable three-stage medium-lift launch vehicle that has frequently been used to deploy both military and civilian satellites.

The mission comes after several military launches from Plesetsk earlier this year. On April 17, a Soyuz-2.1b carried several spacecraft into orbit for the Defense Ministry. Six days later, an Angara-1.2 light rocket was launched from the cosmodrome with military satellites.

Plesetsk is Russia’s northernmost major launch facility. Its high latitude makes it suited to place spacecraft into polar orbits, which are widely used for Earth observation and military missions. The facility began as a Soviet intercontinental ballistic missile base before being converted for space launches in the 1960s.

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The cosmodrome’s first satellite launch took place in March 1966, when a Vostok-2 rocket carried the Kosmos-112 reconnaissance spacecraft into orbit. Plesetsk subsequently became a major launch site for Soviet and Russian military spacecraft and has hosted numerous versions of the R-7 family from which the modern Soyuz launch vehicle was developed.