Soyuz-2.1 light-class carrier rocket with military satellite launched from Plesetsk cosmodrome

Published June 24, 2017 at 11:05 am

A Russian Soyuz 2.1a rocket carrying Lomonosov, Aist-2D and SamSat-218 satellites lifts off from the launch pad at the new Vostochny cosmodrome outside the city of Uglegorsk, about 200 kms from the city of Blagoveshchensk in the far eastern Amur region on April 28, 2016.

Photo by AFP

MOSCOW – A Soyuz-2.1 carrier rocket carrying the Russian Defense Ministry’s satellite lifted off from Plesetsk cosmodrome on Friday, a ministry spokesperson said.

“An Aerospace Forces Space Troops combat crew successfully launched the Soyuz-2.1 light-class carrier rocket with a space satellite in the interests of the Russian Defense Ministry from the launch pad N 4 at the site N43 of the state testing cosmodrome Plesetsk, at 9:04 p.m. Moscow time on Friday, June 23,” the ministry said.

The prelaunch operations and the liftoff itself “proceeded normally,” the ministry said.