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Angola’s Angosat telecoms satellite taken to designated orbit

A Zenit-2SB carrier rocket, carrying the Angosat satellite, was launched at 22:00 on Tuesday from the Baikonur space center

MOSCOW, December 27. /TASS/. Angola’s Angosat telecoms satellite, launched atop Zenit-2SB rocket from the Baikonur space center on Tuesday, separated from the Fregat booster and is now in the designated orbit, a source in the Roscosmos state corporation told TASS on Wednesday.

"The spacecraft separated from the Fregat booster," the source said.

The satellite will use its own thrusters to reach the final orbit. The maneuver is expected to be completed at 9:54 Moscow time on Wednesday.

A Zenit-2SB carrier rocket, carrying Angola's telecommunications satellite Angosat, was launched at 22:00 on Tuesday from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan. The first stage separated two and a half minutes into the launch and fell in Kazakhstan’s Karaganda region. The Fregat booster and the payload separated from the rocket eight minutes after the launch.

The 1,647-kilogram Angosat geostationary satellite has been produced at Russia’s Energiya Rocket and Space Corporation under a contract with the Angolan Telecommunications and Information Technology Ministry. It is intended to provide communications and TV broadcasting for Angola and the entire African continent.