Posted: Thu, May 17, 2012, 10:20 PM ET (0220 GMT)
A Soyuz rocket launched a Russian military satellite on Thursday. The Soyuz-U rocket lifted off from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia at 11:05 am EDT (1505 GMT) Thursday and placed the Kosmos 2480 satellite into low Earth orbit. Russian officials provided no information about the satellite other than it is a military satellite, but Western observers believe it is a Kobalt-M reconnaissance satellite. The launch is the last for the Soyuz-U variant, which will be replaced for satellite launches by the Soyuz-2 rocket and the future Angara 3.

Related Links:

•  NASASpaceFlight.com article
•  Spaceflight Now article
•  RIA Novosti article
•  Itar-Tass article
•  RIA Novosti article about Soyuz-U