Russia’s Soyuz-2.1b Rocket Carrying Military Satellite Blasts off from Plesetsk Spaceport

Combat teams of the Aerospace Forces’ Space Troops launched a Soyuz-2.1b medium-class carrier rocket with the Defense Ministry’s space vehicle from the Defense Ministry’s State Testing Cosmodrome (the Plesetsk spaceport) in the Arkhangelsk Region, the Defense Ministry said in a statement

© Valery Sharifulin/TASS

MOSCOW, November 26. /TASS/. The Russian Aerospace Forces have launched a Soyuz-2.1b rocket carrying a military satellite from the Plesetsk spaceport, the Defense Ministry said in a statement.

"Combat teams of the Aerospace Forces’ Space Troops launched a Soyuz-2.1b medium-class carrier rocket with the Defense Ministry’s space vehicle from the Defense Ministry’s State Testing Cosmodrome (the Plesetsk spaceport) in the Arkhangelsk Region at 11:58 p.m. (8:58 p.m. GMT) on Saturday, November 25," the statement reads.

A Soyuz-2.1b carrier rocket was last launched from the Plesetsk space center on October 27, 2023. A total of 67 launches took place as of November 26, 2023, including two failed ones. As many as 41 launches were carried out from the Plesetsk spaceport, 15 from Baikonur and another 11 from Vostochny.

The Soyuz-2.1b carrier rocket was designed and is manufactured by the Samara-based Progress Rocket Space Center. The rocket is used for launching military and civilian satellites.