MOSCOW, March 25. /TASS/. Eight OneWeb communication satellites carried by the Soyuz-2.1b carrier rocket have separated from the Fregat booster, Russia’s Roscosmos State Space Corporation said on Twitter.

"The first four of OneWeb’s satellites have separated from the Fregat booster," one of the tweets reads. Another tweet says that four more satellites have separated.

The Soyuz-2.1b rocket carrying 36 OneWeb satellites was launched from the Vostochny spaceport at 05:47 am Moscow time (02:47 am GMT) on Thursday. It will take about four hours to put the satellites into orbit.

OneWeb satellites were first launched from the Vostochny spaceport in December 2020. A total of 36 space vehicles were put into orbit. Overall, the British company plans to deliver around 600 satellites into a near-Earth orbit. OneWeb’s renewed agreement with the French launch service provider Arianespace includes the lift-off of 16 Russian Soyuz carrier rockets from the Kourou, Vostochny and Baikonur spaceports in 2020-2022. Each launch allows orbiting 34-36 satellites.