Posted: Fri, Oct 31, 2014, 8:37 AM ET (1237 GMT)
A Soyuz rocket placed a Russian military satellite into orbit on Thursday. The Soyuz-2.1a rocket lifted off from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia at 9:43 pm EDT Wednesday (0143 GMT, 4:43 am Moscow time Thursday) carrying a Meridian communications satellite. The satellite successfully entered an elliptical Molniya orbit, according to Russian officials. The satellite is seventh in this series of communications satellites.

Related Links:

•  RIA Novosti article
•  TASS article