Posted: Fri, Jul 23, 2004, 8:44 AM ET (1244 GMT)
A Kosmos rocket launched a military satellite Thursday night, according to Russian military reports. The Kosmos-3M booster lifted off from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia at 2:50 pm EDT (1850 GMT) Thursday. The booster placed into low Earth orbit the Kosmos 2407 satellite. The purpose of the satellite was not disclosed, other than to "beef up Russia's military-satellite cluster", according to a Russian media report, but the launch and orbit characteristics are consistent with the spacecraft being a Parus-class navigation satellite.

Related Links:

•  RIA Novosti article
•  AFP article
•  Encyclopedia Astronautica entry on Parus