Tags: Russia, Rokot, Satellite Launch
Publication: China.org.cn
Publication Date: 01/16/2013

Rokot booster Image source: Orbiterch Space News

Russia has launched three new military satellites on Tuesday, Jan. 15 from the Plesetsk cosmodrome in northern Russia. This is the country’s first launch of 2013 and the Rokot rocket’s second since February 2011 when a malfunction caused it to place a Geo-IK-2 satellite into the wrong orbit.

This launch had been originally scheduled for the beginning of last month but it had to be postponed because of the rocket’s Breeze booster malfunction.

The Rokot launcher weights 107 tons and is a derivative of the Russian RS-18 (SS-19 Stiletto) intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). It has two original ICBM lower stages and an upper stage for commercial payloads. The rocket is designed to take satellites that weight less than two tons into LEO.

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