Russia set to launch Europe's CryoSat-2 satellite from Baikonur
08:02, 8 April 2010
MOSCOW. April 8. KAZINFORM A Russian Dnepr carrier rocket will launch the European Space Agency's CryoSat-2 Earth Explorer satellite from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan on Thursday, the Russian Space Agency said, Kazinform refers to RIA Novosti.
The launch of CryoSat-2, which will monitor the effects of global warming on polar glaciers, is scheduled for 17:57 Moscow time (13:57 GMT).
The initial launch of the satellite was scheduled for February 25, but was postponed due to technical reasons.
The 140 million euro satellite, CryoSat-1, was built by the space company EADS Astrium for the European Space Agency. It went missing in October 2005 after the satellite's Russian Rokot booster malfunctioned just a few minutes after blasting clear of the Plesetsk space center in northwest Russia. It later crashed into the Arctic Ocean, Kazinform refers to RIA Novosti. See www.en.rian.ru