First GLONASS satellite in 2014 put in orbit

24 March 2014
A navigation GLONASS-M satellite launched with the aid of a Soyuz-2.1b carrier rocket from the Plesetsk spaceport in early hours of Monday has been put in orbit and taken under control by the Russian Aerospace Defense Forces (VKO), Colonel Alexey Zolotukhin from the VKO said.
The launching of the Soyuz-2.1b at 02:54 Moscow time and the head separation went smoothly.  

"After the separation at 06:26 Moscow time the GLONASS-M space vehicle was put under control by the Titov Main Test and Space Systems Control Center of the Space Command of the Aerospace Defense Forces.
A stable telemetry link has been installed and is being maintained with the spacecraft. The KA GLONASS-M on-board system is functioning properly," Zolotukhin said.

This is the third launch of a GLONASS spacecraft from the Plesetsk spaceport. the first vehicle having been launched on 26 February 2011 The first spacecraft of the Russian Global Navigation Satellite System was launched from Plesetsk on 26 February 2011. That was the first GLONASS-K new generation satellite which was for the first time placed in orbit by a Soyuz-2.1b medium capacity launcher. Before that all GLONASS spacecrafts were launched from the Baikonur space center with the aid of Proton-M heavy carrier rockets.

In an interview for RIA Novosti at the end of 2013, VKO commander Alexander Golovko said that three GLONASS launches are scheduled for 2014.

The source:  http://ria.ru

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