Posted: Wed, Oct 1, 2008, 2:11 PM ET (1811 GMT)
A Dnepr rocket successfully launched a long-delayed remote sensing satellite for Thailand on Wednesday. The Dnepr rocket lifted off from Yasny launch site in southern Russia at 2:37 am EDT (0637 GMT) and placed the Thailand Earth Observation System (THEOS) satellite into a parking orbit. The 715-kilogram satellite was built by EADS Astrium for the Thai space agency GISTDA. The spacecraft, which will eventually maneuver to an 822-kilometer sun-synchronous orbit, will provide medium-resolution imagery for Earth science and disaster monitoring applications. THEOS was originally slated for launch on a Rockot but later moved to a Dnepr; the launch was then delayed when Kosmotras, which operates the Dnepr, ran into problems securing authorizations from Central Asian countries that the launch vehicle would overfly.
