spacetoday.net: Soyuz launches GLONASS satellite

Soyuz launches GLONASS satellite

Posted: Mon, Mar 24, 2014, 6:40 AM ET (1040 GMT)
A Soyuz rocket successfully launched a GLONASS navigation satellite from Russia early Monday. The Soyuz-2.1b rocket lifted off from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in nothern Russia at 6:54 pm EDT Sunday (2254 GMT Sunday, 2:54 am Monday Moscow time) and placed a GLONASS satellite into orbit. Russian officials reported that the launch was a success and that the spacecraft was operating normally. The satellite joins the existing constellation of GLONASS satellites that provide navigation services like the American GPS system. The launch was the third time a Soyuz rocket placed a GLONASS satellite into orbit from Plesetsk; most such satellites have been launched as many as three at a time on Proton rockets from Baikonur.