MOSCOW, April 3. /TASS/. A military satellite launched atop a Soyuz-2.1a carrier rocket from the Plesetsk spaceport in northwestern Russia on the morning of April 3 has been delivered into the target orbit and placed under the control of Russia’s Space Troops, the Defense Ministry reported on Friday.
"The launch of the carrier rocket and the delivery of the satellite into the designated orbit proceeded in normal mode. After the lift-off, the Soyuz-2.1a medium-class carrier rocket was monitored by facilities of the ground-based automated control system of the Titov Main Test Space Center. The satellite was delivered into the target orbit at the designated time and placed under the control of ground-based facilities of the Aerospace Forces’ Space Troops," the ministry said in a statement.
Stable telemetry contact has been established and is maintained with the space vehicle and its onboard systems are operating in normal mode, the ministry reported.
The Soyuz-2.1a carrier rocket with the military satellite blasted off from the Defense Ministry’s State Testing Cosmodrome (the Plesetsk spaceport) in the Arkhangelsk Region at 9:28 a.m. Moscow time [6:28 a.m. GMT] on April 3.