Published: November 26, 2023 12:13 pm
Author: RT
The space vehicle has been successfully placed into its target orbit, the country’s Defense Ministry announced
A Soyuz-2.1b rocket carrying a military spacecraft was blasted off from the Plesetsk cosmodrome in the north of Russia on Saturday night, the nation’s Defense Ministry said.
According to its statement, the launch of the carrier rocket proceeded as planned. At the estimated time, the military spacecraft was successfully placed in its target orbit and handed over to the control of the ground facilities of the Aerospace Forces’ Space Troops.
“A stable telemetry link has been established and maintained with the spacecraft,” the ministry said, adding that onboard systems were operating normally.
Once the spacecraft was in orbit, Military Space Force (MSPF) intelligence officers began analyzing and processing information about the new space object, the statement says. The video of the rocket takeoff was released by the ministry.
The launch of the Soyuz-2.1b carrier rocket was watched by 45 female students from the Moscow and St. Petersburg boarding schools of the Defense Ministry and the Kyzyl Presidential Cadet School, who were invited to the cosmodrome for a tour, TASS reported citing the military department. The day before, the cosmodrome personnel reportedly showed the students the rocket launch pad, the assembly and testing building, and the facilities for the Angara carrier rocket.
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The previous launch of Soyuz-2.1b was reported on October 27 from the same Plesetsk cosmodrome in the Arkhangelsk region. The rocket carried several spacecraft for the Russian Defense Ministry. The exact purpose and number of devices, as well as their capabilities, have not been disclosed.
According to the Russian space agency Roscosmos, a total of 67 launches of Soyuz-2.1b rockets were carried out from December 27, 2006 to November 25, 2023, delivering 577 spacecraft into orbit.
