UNITED24 - Make a charitable donation in support of Ukraine!

Space

Russian Cosmos-3M rocket puts 2 satellites in orbit

RIA Novosti

10:2721/07/2009 MOSCOW, July 21 (RIA Novosti) - A Russian carrier rocket has successfully put one military and one civilian satellite into orbit, a spokesman for the Russian Federal Space Agency Roscosmos said.

The Cosmos-3M rocket lifted off earlier on Tuesday from the Plesetsk space center in northern Russia.

The military satellite is a new addition to a Russian network of about 60-70 military reconnaissance satellites, and a Sterkh series civilian satellite is set to expand Russia's segment of the international COSPAS-SARSAT satellite grouping.

The Sterkh-series satellites are designed to replace the Nadezhda series in the International Satellite System for Search and Rescue (COSPAS-SARSAT). Unlike the Nadezhda satellites, the Sterkh series does not provide navigation services, which have been taken over by Russia's GLONASS system.

The Cosmos-3M is a liquid-fueled two-stage rocket, first launched in 1967, with over 410 successful launches to date. The booster has been designed to lift a payload of up to 1,500 kg (3,300 lbs) into low, medium, and high orbits.

Russia has carried out 17 successful space launches since the beginning of 2009.

 



NEWSLETTER
Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list