Tag: Rockot
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Russia retires Rockot launcher after liftoff with four satellites
The final flight of Russia’s Rockot launcher took off Thursday and placed four satellites into orbit nearly 1,000 miles above Earth, ending a run of 31 launches since May 2000. Derived from decommissioned Soviet-era missiles, the Rockot vehicles launched Russian military satellites, European Earth observation satellites, and payloads for NASA and Iridium during its…
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Russian satellite launched to measure Earth’s size and shape
The Rockot launcher with the GEO-IK 2 geodesy satellite blasted off at 1400 GMT (10 a.m. EDT; 5 p.m. Moscow time) Saturday. Credit: Russian Ministry of Defense A Russian military spacecraft designed to map variations in Earth’s gravity field, rotation and tectonic movement reached orbit Sunday after a launch aboard a modified Soviet-era missile that…
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Modified missile launches three Russian satellites
Three Russian military satellites arrived in orbit Wednesday after taking off from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome aboard a Rockot launch vehicle, a decommissioned ballistic missile modified for space applications. The Rockot launcher lifted off from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome, a military facility about 500 miles north of Moscow, at 2200 GMT (6 p.m. EDT) Wednesday, according to…
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Rockot launcher deploys Russian data relay satellites
Three small satellites launched from Russia’s Plesetsk Cosmdorome into a 930-mile-high orbit Tuesday, flying into space aboard a Rockot launcher to relay emails, technical data and other messages between remote users. The 95-foot-tall launcher, a converted SS-19 ballistic missile from Soviet-era nuclear forces, lifted off Tuesday from Complex 133 at Plesetsk, a military facility about…