Posted: Fri, Apr 9, 2010, 11:01 AM ET (1501 GMT)
A Dnepr rocket successfully launched a European earth sciences satellite Thursday, replacing a satellite lost in a launch failure several years ago. The Dnepr rocket launched from its silo at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Russia at 9:57 am EDT (1357 GMT) and placed the CryoSat-2 satellite into a polar orbit 717 kilometers high. The 720-kilogram spacecraft, built by EADS Astrium for the European Space Agency, carries a radar altimeter designed to measure ice thickness in the Earth's polar regions. The spacecraft is a replacement for the original CryoSat, which failed to reach orbit in late 2005 because of a problem with its Rockot launcher.

Related Links:

•  BBC article
•  Spaceflight Now article
•  NASASpaceFlight.com article
•  Space News article
•  ESA press release