Russia launches 38 satellites for 18 countries
A Russian Soyuz rocket blasted faraway from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Mon carrying 38 foreign satellites after takeoff was twice postponed due to technical concerns, Russian space company Roscosmos said.
Training video published by Roscosmos showed the Soyuz blaster launching against grey and cloudy skies in 0607 GMT.
“The Soyuz-2.1a carrier rocket with the Fregat higher stage and 38 spacecraft from 18 countries became popular from the Baikonur cosmodrome,” Roscosmos said on its Twitter account.
The rocket will place in orbit 38 satellites from greater than a dozen countries, including South Korea, Japan, Canada, Saudi Arabia, Germany, Italy and Brazil.
Among them is the Challenge-1, the primary satellite produced completely in Tunisia, that was designed by the Telnet telecommunications group.
The start was twice postponed from Saturday after a surge in voltage was detected.
Because the fall of the Soviet Union, the Russian space sector has lagged behind international competitors, suffering from corruption scandals and technological stagnation.
In 2018, a Soyuz rocket carrying a Russian cosmonaut and a NASA astronaut failed mid-flight, forcing the crew to handle a crisis landing. Both survived without accidental injuries.
