24.09.2015 - The Briz-KM upper stage linked to three military satellites has separated from the second stage of the Rokot carrier rocket, the Russian Defense Ministry told TASS.

"The placing of spacecraft into calculated orbits by the Briz-KM upper stage will take about two hours," a ministry spokesman said.

At 01:00 a.m. Moscow Time, the Aerospace Forces successfully launched a Rokot light class carrier rocket with a set of spacecraft for Russia’s Defense Ministry from launching platform No. 3 of launch site No. 133 of the Plesetsk Space Center (Arkhangelsk Region in northwestern Russia).

Earlier, Russia’s Defense Ministry announced that Rodnik series satellites relating to the low-orbit multifunctional system of personal satellite communication would be launched during the blastoff.

The Rokot light rocket was created under the conversion program on the basis of decommissioned intercontinental ballistic missile RS-18. The first launch of the Rokot rocket took place from the Plesetsk Space Center on May 16, 2000. The Defense Ministry plans to stop using these rockets from 2016 in favor of the light rocket Angara and Soyuz-2.1v. Rokot rockets have been launched from Plesetsk 23 times since.

Quelle: TASS