Posted: Sun, May 28, 2006, 9:41 AM ET (1341 GMT)
A missile launched from a Russian submarine placed an earthquake research satellite into low Earth orbit on Friday. The Shtil rocket launched from the Russian ballistic missile submarine Ekaterinburg in the Barents Sea at 2:50 pm EDT (1850 GMT) Friday. The rocket placed the Compass 2 satellite into a 79-degree low Earth orbit; contact with the small spacecraft was established sever hours after launch. Compass 2 (short for Complex Orbital Magneto-Plasma Autonomous Small Satellite 2), is designed to detect any electromagnetic anomalies that may be precursors to earthquakes.

Related Links:

•  Spaceflight Now article
•  NasaSpaceFlight.com article
•  AFP article