Posted: Tue, Feb 20, 2001, 11:27 AM ET (1627 GMT)
A former Russian ICBM successfully launched a Swedish scientific satellite early Tuesday. The Start-1 booster lifted off at 3:48 am EST (0848 GMT) from the launch site at Svobodny, Russia, and successfully placed into a 625-km orbit the Odin spacecraft. Odin will study the composition of both the Earth's atmosphere and astronomical objects for at least two years using spectrometer and radiometer instruments. The 250-kg Odin was built by the Swedish Space Corporation as part of a joint project of Sweden, Canada, Finland, and France. The Start-1 a booster based on the SS-25 ICBM, and was last used in December to launch the EROS A1 commercial remote sensing satellite.

Related Links:

•  Interfax article on launch, published by SpaceDaily
•  Odin information from the Swedish Space Corporation
•  Start-1 information from astronautix.com