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Next launch of OneWeb satellites scheduled for late December from Baikonur spaceport

This year, Roscosmos carried out five OneWeb satellite launches from the Vostochny spaceport in the Russian Far East

MOSCOW, November 2. /TASS/. The next launch of British OneWeb communications satellites from the Baikonur spaceport in Kazakhstan is scheduled for the end of this year, Russia’s federal space agency Roscosmos announced on Tuesday.

"The launch of a Soyuz-2.1b carrier rocket with a Fregat booster and OneWeb satellites is scheduled for the end of December from the Vostok launch pad of the Baikonur Cosmodrome," Roscosmos said in a statement.

A source in the Russian space industry earlier told TASS that the launch of OneWeb satellites was scheduled for December 27.

This year, Roscosmos carried out most of OneWeb satellite launches (five) from the Vostochny spaceport in the Russian Far East. Another two launches were conducted from the Baikonur space center where the Soyuz-2.1b rocket with OneWeb satellites is scheduled to lift off on December 27.

OneWeb’s renewed agreement with the French Arianespace stipulates 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 OneWeb satellites. Roscosmos Chief Dmitry Rogozin told reporters on April 9 that the OneWeb first generation cluster would be established in late 2022 - early 2023.

British OneWeb satellites are designed to create a space-based communications system to provide high-speed Internet access in any locality worldwide.