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29Jan18

Soyuz carrier rocket installed on Russia's Vostochny launch pad

A Soyuz-2.1a carrier rocket with a Fregat upper stage and Russia's Kanopus 3 and 4 remote Earth sensing satellites and also nine foreign spacecraft has been installed on the launch pad of the Vostochny spaceport in the Russian Far East, the Roscosmos state space corporation said on Monday.

"Upon the decision of the state commission, the Soyuz-2.1 a carrier rocket has been taken from the assembly and testing facility and installed on the launch pad of the Vostochny spaceport," a Roscosmos spokesman said.

The Soyuz-2.1a carrier rocket is due to blast off at 5.07 a.m. Moscow Time on February 1. Besides the Kanopus satellites, a payload of four German S-NET, one German D-Star One and four US LEMUR satellites will be put into the orbit.

Kanopus-B satellites are designed to monitor man-made and natural disasters, look for hotbeds of forest fires, large emissions of pollutants and monitor agricultural activity and natural resources. The 465 kg satellites are launched to the sun-synchronous orbit with the altitude of 510 km.

Initially, the third launch from the Vostochny spaceport had been scheduled for December 22, 2017. However, after the failed second launch on November 28, 2017, when a Russian Meteor-M weather satellite and 18 small satellites were lost, it was postponed until February 1, 2018.

[Source: Itar Tass, Moscow, 29Jan18]
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