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Russian carrier rocket sends military satellite into orbit
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-07-27 11:47
This undated file photo shows Russian rocket on launch pad. [Agencies]
MOSCOW -- A modernized Soyuz-2 carrier rocket sent a Kosmos military satellite into orbit from Russia's northern Plesetsk spaceport on Saturday, the Itar-Tass news agency reported.

The rocket launched at 22:31 Moscow time (1831 GMT), a spokesman for the cosmodrome said.

The Soyuz-2 rocket was designed by the Samara-based CSKB-Progress design office for the Russian Defense Ministry and the Federal Space Agency. Comparing to the Soyuz, the vehicle can carry a heavier payload to orbits at an altitude of 200 kms, and the orbiting of satellites is more accurate.

Flight tests of Soyuz-2 of the 1A and 1B modernization stages are currently conducted. The rocket of the 1A modernization stage has been launched three times, with two from Plesetsk and one from Baikonur, and one rocket in the 1B stage blasted off from the southern cosmodrome.

Former Russian Space Troops Commander Vladimir Popovkin said earlier that the space troops were to conduct two launches for flight tests in 2008, and the Soyuz-2 rocket may be put into operation this year.