Aerospace Forces Conducts First Russian Launch of Year From Plesetsk Cosmodrome

PLESETSK COSMODROME, Russia (Ministry of Defense PR) — On Saturday, February 5, at 10:00 (Moscow time) from the State Test Cosmodrome of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation (Plesetsk Cosmodrome) in the Arkhangelsk Region, the combat crew of the Space Forces of the Aerospace Forces successfully launched a Soyuz-2.1a medium-class launch vehicle with a spacecraft in the interests of the Russian Ministry of Defense.

The launch of the carrier rocket and the launch of the spacecraft into the calculated orbit took place in the normal mode.

Two minutes after the launch, the Soyuz-2 launch vehicle was accepted for escort by ground controls of the German Titov Main Test Space Center.

At the estimated time, the spacecraft was launched into the target orbit and accepted for control of the ground facilities of the Space Forces of the Aerospace Forces.

A stable telemetry connection has been established and maintained with the spacecraft, its onboard systems are operating in the normal mode. The spacecraft was assigned the serial number Kosmos-2553.

The Kosmos-2553 technological spacecraft is equipped with newly developed on-board instruments and systems for testing them under the influence of radiation and heavy charged particles.

After the spacecraft was launched into orbit, the officers of the Space Control Center entered information about it into the Main Catalog of Space Objects of the Russian Space Control System, and proceeded to analyze and process information about the new space object in order to accept it for tracking by ground facilities of the Main Space Intelligence Center Space Forces VKS.

In total, more than 40 ground-based measuring instruments and over 70 combat crews of the 15th Army of the Aerospace Special Forces were involved in ensuring the launch of the spacecraft of the Russian Ministry of Defense.