Rocket-carrier launched from Plecetsk Space Centre in Arkhangelsk Region

The Cosmos-3M rocket-carrier was launched from the Plecetsk Space Centre in Arkhangelsk Region at 10:12 a.m. today. The space centre's press secretary Anna Potekhina told Rosbalt that the rocket-carrier will place four foreign and two Russian satellites into orbit.

The satellites contain special equipment for probing the earth's surface. One of the satellites - the South Korean STSAT-1 - will orbit the earth at an altitude of 700 km. The satellite is equipped with the SPEAR space telescope which will work on an ultraviolet wave band. The telescope was developed and constructed as part of the joint project with the University of California at Berkeley, the South Korean Research Centre for Satellite Technology and the Korean Astronomical Observatory.