Posted on 06/10/2004 6:14:38 PM PDT by Seselj
MOSCOW - Russia successfully launched a military satellite on Thursday, finally putting it in orbit after several earlier attempts were aborted for technical reasons, an official said.
A Ukrainian-made Zenit-2 rocket carrying the Kosmos-2406 satellite lifted off from the Russian launch complex in Baikonur, Kazakhstan at 5:28 a.m Moscow time and entered orbit 14 minutes later, a spokesman for the Space Forces said.
The spokesman for the Space Forces, a military branch that carries out Russian military satellite launches with help from the nation's space agency, said the launch went as planned.
Initially scheduled for March, the launch was pushed back to late April but was then scrapped three times over two days after what authorities later said was a failure of the launch system.
Each satellite and spacecraft that Russia lauches is normally given an individual number, but the designation Kosmos-2406 was also given to a military satellite launched in March. The Space Forces spokesman, who declined to give his name for attribution, would not explain why two satellites had the same number.
Russia has 100 satellites in orbit, about 60 of them with defense uses. Officials have said they put 12 military satellites in orbit in 2003 and plan to launch at least 10 this year, but it was unclear whether the delays would affect those plans.
Looks like Putin is serious about restoring the Russian military to its former glory.
Russia has 100 satellites in orbit, about 60 of them with defense uses.
Does anyone know how many the US has? I'm also interested in China.
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