Russia Loses Contact With Satellite

Russian State Space Corporation Roscosmos says it has failed to establish contact with Russia's Meteor-M № 2-1 weather satellite, which had been launched atop a Soyuz-2.1b carrier rocket from Vostochny Cosmodrome in the country's Far East on Tuesday.

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"As a result of the work of the Soyuz-2.1b launch vehicle, the head section of the Fregat upper stage and the Meteor-M spacecraft were launched to a set interim orbit. However, during the first planned communication session with the spacecraft, connection could not be established due to its absence in the target orbit. Currently, the information is being analyzed," the press release read

Answering the question whether Russian President Vladimir Putin had been informed of the failed launch, his spokesman Dmitry Peskov has asked not to rush to conclusions as the Kremlin is waiting for detailed information on the emergency situation during the launch of a rocket.

A Soyuz-2.1b carrier rocket launched from the Vostochny Cosmodrome was expected to orbit Russia's Meteor-M satellite, the Baumanets-2 satellite made by students of Bauman Moscow State Technical University, as well as LEO Vantage (Canada), AISSat-3 (Norway), IDEA and SEAM (Sweden).