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Russia’s Soyuz-2.1b carrier rocket orbits military satellite — Defense ministry

The entire mission was held in normal regime, with no emergencies taking place

© Russian Defense Ministry's press service/TASS, archive

MOSCOW, February 3. /TASS/. Russia’s Soyuz-2.1b carrier rocket successfully delivered a Russian military satellite to the orbit on Tuesday, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

"The Soyuz-2.1B medium lift rocket that was launched today, on February 2, at 23:45 [Moscow time] from the the Defence Ministry First State Test Spaceport [Plesetsk launch facility] in the Arkhangelsk Region, successfully and in scheduled time took a spacecraft for the Russian Defense Ministry’s needs to the designated orbit," the ministry said.

The entire mission was held in normal regime, with no emergencies taking place.

Ground control facilities of the Russian Space Troops (a branch of the Russian Aerospace Forces) monitored the rocket’s takeoff and flight.

Tuesday’s launch is the first mission of a Soyuz-2 medium-lift rocket from the Plesetsk space center this year. The previous successful launch took place on December 3, 2020.

In the past 16 years, 45 medium-lift Soyuz-2 carrier rockets (modifications 1A and 1B) were launched from the Plesetsk facility, along with six light-class Soyuz-2.1V rockets.

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