A navigation GLONASS-M satellite launched with the aid of a Soyuz-2.1b carrier rocket from the Plesetsk space base in the small hours of Monday has been put in orbit and taken home by the Russian Aerospace Defence 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 taken home by the Titov Main Test and Space Systems Control Centre of the Space Command of the Aerospace Defence 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 space base, the first vehicle having been launched 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 vehicles were launched from the Baikonur space centre 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.

Source: Voice of Russia