MOSCOW, August 23 (RIA Novosti) - The Russian booster rocket Voyevoda, carrying two Japanese satellites, will be launched from the Baikonur Space Center in the early hours of August 24, the Federal Space Agency announced Tuesday. Liftoff is scheduled for 1:10 a.m. Moscow time (or 9:10 p.m. GMT, Aug. 23).
Voyevoda, originally built for defense purposes, will send the Japanese Space Agency's Oicets and Index satellites into a solar synchronous orbit. This will be the booster's fifth commercial launch under a military conversion scheme, to be provided by the Russo-Ukrainian joint venture Kosmotras in cooperation with Russia's Federal Space Agency and Strategic Rocket Forces.
