Russia's upgraded Soyuz-2.1a space carrier placed six U.S. Globalstar-2 communications satellites into orbit on Tuesday, a spokesman for the Russian Space Agency said.
The spacecraft equipped with a new Fregat booster blasted off at 9:11 Moscow time (17.11 GMT) from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan.
Globalstar is a low-earth orbit (LEO) satellite-based telecommunications system founded by U.S.-based Loral Corporation and Qualcomm Inc. It provides high-quality satellite voice and data services across North America, and to over 120 countries worldwide.
Commercial launches of Soyuz carrier rockets are managed by Starsem, a European-Russian joint venture, which comprises EADS SPACE, Arianespace, the Russian Federal Space Agency, and the Samara-based Progress design and production center.
MOSCOW, October 19 (RIA Novosti)
