A Soyuz launch vehicle lifted from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to place a Resurs-DK remote sensing spacecraft in orbit.

It was the 1,709th launch of a Soyuz vehicle, according to Starsem, the Soyuz company.

This was the fourth Soyuz-family mission so far this year.

Participants in Starsem include Arianespace, the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co., or EADS, the Russian Federal Space Agency and the Samara Space Center.

The next Soyuz launch will transport the Progress cargo spacecraft to the International Space Station.

This is the schedule of future launches, according to Starsem: