Russian Cosmos-3M rocket puts 2 satellites in orbit
12:40, 21 July 2009
MOSCOW. July 21. KAZINFORM 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, Kazinform refers to RIA Novosti.
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, Kazinform cites RIA Novosti. See www.en.rian.ru for full version.