You're reading: Russian-Ukrainian rocket lifts off from Orenburg region launch pad

Moscow - A Russian-Ukrainian Dnepr launch vehicle carrying Japan's high-resolution Earth-imaging satellite ASNARO and four small satellites has lifted off from the Yasny launch pad in Russia's Orenburg region, a Kosmotras company spokesman told on Nov. 5.

“The rocket blasted off at 10.36 a.m. Moscow time. It has placed a total of five Japanese satellites into orbit,” he said.

The launch is being handled jointly by the Russian Strategic Rocket Forces (RVSN) and the Russian-Ukrainian-Kazakh company Kosmotras, he said.

The world’s most powerful RS-20B intercontinental ballistic missiles (SS-18 Satan by NATO classification) have been converted into Dnepr rockets that are used for civilian space launches.

The previous Dnepr launch was conducted by Kosmotras and the RVSN on June 19, when 33 different satellites were lifted to their orbits. The Dnepr project helps dispose of intercontinental ballistic missiles by using them to place satellites into orbit.

Kosmotras upgrades RS-20 intercontinental ballistic missiles (NATO reporting name SS-18 Satan), made by the Pivdenne design bureau in Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine, into Dnepr carrier rockets, which are used to launch small satellites from Baikonur and from the Yasny launch site in Russia’s Orenburg region. The consortium has carried out 20 successful Dnepr launches since 1999.

Dnepr is a three-stage, liquid-fueled rocket. The first and second stages are the regular stages of the heavy intercontinental ballistic missile RS-20B. Dnepr’s liftoff weight is 210 tonnes.