VOSTOCHNY COSMODROME (Far East) (Sputnik) – A Soyuz-2.1b rocket carrying several satellites has blasted off from the Vostochny Cosmodrome in Russia's Far East, a Sputnik correspondent reported Tuesday.
The carrier rocket is expected to orbit Russia's Meteor-M satellite, the Baumanets-2 satellite made by students from Bauman Moscow State Technical University, as well as LEO Vantage (Canada), AISSat-3 (Norway), IDEA and SEAM (Sweden).
3.2.1… ПРОШЕЛ КОНТАКТ ПОДЪЕМА! 🚀 С космодрома #Восточный стартовала ракета-носитель «Союз-2.1б» с разгонным блоком «Фрегат», космическим аппаратом #МетеорМ №2-1 и 18 малыми космическими аппаратами в качестве попутной нагрузки. Трансляция → https://t.co/tL30gTow3Y pic.twitter.com/NlGl9y3kZ3
— РОСКОСМОС (@roscosmos) 28 ноября 2017 г.
READ MORE: Main Builder for 2nd Phase of Vostochny Cosmodrome to Be Named by September 16
The first launch from the cosmodrome, on which construction commenced in 2012, was held on April 28, 2016. Then the Soyuz-2.1a rocket, equipped with the new Volga launching unit, delivered the Russian spacecraft Aist-2D into orbit, as well as a scientific satellite from Moscow State University and the SamSat-218D nano-satellite.
Vostochny Space Center is the first Russian civil cosmodrome. Baikonur cosmodrome, which Russia leases from Kazakhstan for about $ 115 million per year, Plesetsk (Arkhangelsk region) and Kapustin Yar (Astrakhan region) were initially built as military missile ranges.
