Russia Launches Carrier Rocket from Vostochny
Russian President Vladimir Putin observed today the launch of the Soyuz-2.1a carrier rocket from the Vostochny Space Launch Centre. The booster will deliver into orbit three spacecraft – Mikhail Lomonosov, Aist-2D and SamSat-218.
The President congratulated Roscosmos, cosmodrome workers and builders on the successful launch of the carrier rocket.
“I would like to congratulate you all. We have reason to be proud,” Vladimir Putin said at a meeting with rocket launch team and Roscosmos representatives. “This is definitely a very important and significant step forward in the development of the Russian astronautics.”
The launch initially scheduled for April 27, had been postponed for 24 hours following failure in operation of the flight control system.
Vostochny is Russia’s first civilian spaceport for preparation and launch of scientific, socioeconomic and commercial satellites. The main construction works were completed in mid-January of 2016.
The Mikhail Lomonosov satellite is designed to help study transient phenomena in the Earth’s upper atmosphere and magnetosphere and near-Earth radiation environment along with fundamental cosmological studies.
The Aist-2D small satellite is designed to position and control spacecraft and study how external factors in outer space impact spacecraft equipment and satellite body materials.
Nanosatellite Samsat-218 was created by students at Samara State Aerospace University to test orientation control algorithms for this class of spacecraft.
Photo courtesy: Kremlin
