Russia Launches Kosmos military satellite from Baikonur

Moscow, June 29 (UNI) Russia today launched Kosmos military satellite into orbit from Baikonur space centre in Kazakhstan.

A Zenit-2M rocket was launched from the Baikonur spaceport at 1400 hrs local time today, Roskosmos, the Rusian Federal Space Agency and news channels reported.

"This is the first launch of a Zenit-2M rocket from Baikonur under the 'ground launch' programme. The rocket will place the Russian Defence Ministry's Kosmos satellite into orbit," a spokesman for the Roskosmos told news agencies.

"The separation of the spacecraft occurred successfully and on schedule," he said adding "A Kosmos-series satellite will expand the orbital group of Russia's military satellites." The satellite was to be launched into orbit in December 2006.

But, the launch was rescheduled for March for technical reasons and later postponed until June.

Russia is reportedly operating a network of about 60-70 military reconnaissance satellites.

Zenit-M is a modified version of the Zenit-3SL delivery vehicle used to launch spacecraft from the Sea Launch consortium's floating launch platform in the Pacific Ocean.

The modernized Zenit rocket has only two stages, while the Zenit-3SL uses an additional booster.

UNI