Posted: Tue, Mar 2, 2010, 7:40 AM ET (1240 GMT)
A Proton rocket placed three new Russian navigation satellites into orbit early Tuesday. The Proton-M lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 4:19 pm EST Monday (2219 GMT Monday, 3:19 am local time Tuesday) and released three GLONASS satellites into their planned transfer orbits about three and a half hours later. The three satellites will join an existing constellation of 18 active GLONASS satellites, providing navigation services similar to the US GPS system. A total of 24 satellites are needed to provide global coverage, while 18 are sufficient to provide coverage across Russia.
