Posted: Tue, Jul 3, 2007, 8:17 AM ET (1217 GMT)
A Kosmos rocket placed a German radar imaging satellite into low Earth orbit late Monday night. The Kosmos-3M rocket lifted off from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia at 3:38 pm EDT (1938 GMT) Monday and placed the SAR-Lupe 2 satellite into a 500-km polar orbit. The launch had been scheduled for Sunday night but was delayed by strong upper-level winds. The satellite is the second in a planned constellation of five satellites to provide radar imagery for the German military. The first SAR-Lupe satellite was launched in December 2006 and the remaining three will be launched by 2008.

Related Links:

•  RIA Novosti article
•  Itar-Tass article
•  OHB-System press release