The second fully commercial launch from Vostochny was a success
VOSTOCHNY, March 25. - A successful launch of 36 OneWeb satellites aboard the Soyuz-2.1b launch vehicle with the Fregat upper stage was executed on Thursday from the Vostochny Cosmodrome. The launch was carried out under the contract between Glavkosmos (part of the State Space Corporation Roscosmos) and the European launch services provider Arianespace and the Russian-French company Starsem in close cooperation with other Roscosmos enterprises: Progress Space Rocket Center, Lavochkin Association, and TsENKI.
The separation of the Fregat upper stage from the third stage was nominal. During two and a half hours in accordance with the flight sequence the spacecraft were separated from the upper stage nine times and put into target orbits.
The foreign partners of Glavkosmos have confirmed that the company has fulfilled its contractual obligations. All the satellites have been launched into target orbits.
OneWeb low Earth orbit satellites are designed to provide consumers on the ground with high-speed Internet directly through satellite communications. Today’s launch brought the number of OneWeb spacecraft in orbit to 146 and the company is planning to launch hundreds more.
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Glavkosmos, JSC is a subsidiary of the State Space Corporation Roscosmos. The main task of the company is to promote the achievements of the Russian rocket and space industry to world markets and manage complex international projects. During its thirty-five year history, the company has successfully fulfilled over 140 international contracts, including the launch of more than 150 spacecraft as a secondary payload.
ROSCOSMOS is a State Corporation established in August 2015 to carry out a comprehensive reform of the Russian rocket and space industry. ROSCOSMOS ensures the implementation of the state policy in space activities and its normative and legal regulations, as well as places orders for the design, production and supply of space equipment and space infrastructure. Its functions also include the development of international space cooperation, as well as the establishing of environment for application of space domain achievements for the social and economic development in Russia.