Posted: Wed, Jun 2, 2010, 1:54 PM ET (1754 GMT)
A Russian rocket placed a Japanese technology demonstration satellite into low Earth orbit early Wednesday. The Rockot vehicle lifted off from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia at 9:59 pm EDT Tuesday (0159 GMT Wednesday) and placed the SERVIS-2 satellite into a 1,200-kilometer Sun-synchronous orbit. SERVIS (Space Environment Reliability Verification Integrated System) 2 is the second in a series of spacecraft built by the Institute for Unmanned Space Experiment Free Flyer (USEF) in Japan to test the performance of commercial off-the-shelf technologies in the space environment.

Related Links:

•  Spaceflight Now article
•  NASASpaceFlight.com article
•  Voice of Russia article
•  Eurockot press release