Russia launches Soyuz rocket into space carrying 38 satellites from 18 countries: Watch

Russia’s State Corporation for Space Activities, ROSCOSMOS on Monday launched a rocket in space carrying 38 foreign satellites for 18 countries that lifted off from Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Russian space agency shared footage of the launch that blasted off at 0607 GMT into the sky after at least two deferrals due to technical issues. "The Soyuz-2.1 rocket with the Fregat upper stage and 38 satellites from 18 countries lifted off from the Baikonur cosmodrome," ROSCOSMOS wrote its official Twitter handle. 

In a first, Tanzania has manufactured its own satellite dubbed Challenge-1 that took off with Russia’s Soyuz rocket along with other satellites for countries including South Korea, Japan, Canada, Saudi Arabia, Germany, Italy, and Brazil. Tanzania’s satellite was developed by the domestic firm Telnet telecommunications group, according to Moscow Times. “We are starting to show the broadcast of the launch of the Soyuz-2.1a carrier rocket with the Fregat booster and 38 spacecraft CAS500-1 as the main payload from Baikonur,” the official account of Roscosmos on Twitter wrote. Shortly, it broadcasted live coverage of the event. 

[Image Credit: ESA]

Russia’s Soyuz is a carrier rocket with Fregat upper stage, Russia’s space agency informed in a release. It is carrying a CAS500-1 spacecraft as the main payload and a cluster of rideshare foreign payloads, it added. The payload includes the Korean CAS500-1 Earth remote sensing spacecraft as the primary payload, Japanese ELSA-d space debris docking, and removal spacecraft, the agency further explained. At least four Japanese GRUS spacecraft and Saudi Arabia’s optical Earth observation NAJM-1 is also being carried on Soyuz. 

Spacecraft weighs 7 tonnes

According to ESA, the Soyuz vehicles are launch program by Russia which has had over1680 successful lift-offs in total, including satellites and manned spacecraft. The spacecraft generally weighs 7 tonnes and measures 7.2 m in length and 2.7 m in diameter. Russia’s space vehicle can carry up to three astronauts and operates on three modules, the service, the orbital, and the reentry modules. The orbital module or the “tip” of the spacecraft usually carries the equipment necessary to dock with the International Space Station. 

(Image Credit: @roscosmos/Twitter)