MOSCOW, 1 December 1 2014. /TASS/. A Soyuz-2.1b carrier rocket with the Fregat upper stage and a GLONASS-K new-generation navigation satellite has been launched from the Plesetsk space center in Russia’s northwestern Arkhangelsk Region, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Col. Alexey Zolotukhin said Monday. Cospas-Sarsat SAR payload is installed onboard this satellite.
The first launch of a satellite of Russia’s Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS, Russia’s equivalent of the US Global Positioning System, GPS) from Plesetsk took place February 26, 2011.
Earlier, all GLONASS satellite launches had been made from the Baikonur space center Russia leases from Kazakhstan with the help of Proton-M carrier rockets.
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