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Soyuz-2.1a rocket carrying military satellite blasts off from Plesetsk

Pre-launch operations and launch took place in the normal mode

© Sergey Savostyanov/TASS, archive

MOSCOW, February 2. /TASS/. A Soyuz-2.1a carrier rocket has been launched from the Plesetsk spaceport in Russia’s Arkhangelsk region, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement on Saturday.

"A combat crew of the Space Forces of the Aerospace Forces successfully launched a medium-class Soyuz-2.1a rocket carrying a spacecraft in the interests of the Russian Defense Ministry from Launchpad 4 at Site 43 at the Defense Ministry’s test spaceport in the Arkhangelsk region at 10:00 am Moscow time on Saturday, February 5," the statement reads.

According to the Defense Ministry, all pre-launch operations and the launch itself went normally. "The means of a ground-based automated control system controlled the launch and flight of the carrier rocket," the ministry added.

The Fregat booster with a military spacecraft has separated from the third stage of the Soyuz-2.1a. "The Fregat booster and a spacecraft launched in the interests of the Russian Defense Ministry separated from the third stage of the Soyuz-2.1a carrier rocket at 10:09 am Moscow time as scheduled," the statement reads.

It was the first launch of a Soyuz-s rocket in 2022. Test flights of the Soyuz-2 rockets, which then replaced the Soyuz-U rockets, began in Plesetsk in 2004. A total of 52 Soyuz-2 launches have taken place since then.

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