The Soyuz-2.1b rocket with OneWeb satellites was launched from the Vostochny cosmodrome. The launch was broadcast on the Roscosmos website.
The rocket was launched at 12:40 Moscow time. Two minutes later, its first stage separated, the corporation reported on Twitter. Then there was a reset of the flaps of the head fairing. At 12:45 Moscow time, the second stage of the rocket also separated. “Start from the East [прошел] nominally. The separation of the head unit and the first activation of the main engine of the Fregat upper stage took place at the estimated time, ”wrote the head of the state corporation Dmitry Rogozin in his Telegram channel.
The satellites will be separated from the upper stage in several stages. Within 3.5 hours, the spacecraft will be disconnected from the Fregat upper stage. It is assumed that they will be launched into orbit at an altitude of 450 km, then they will independently position themselves in 12 specified areas. As a result, the number of spacecraft of the British company in orbit will increase to 358.
The contract for the launch of Soyuz rockets with OneWeb satellites was signed in 2015 by order of the European launch services provider Arianespace and the Russian-French company Starsem, Roscosmos reported.
On September 14, the Soyuz-2.1b launch vehicle with the Fregat upper stage and 34 OneWeb communication satellites was launched from Baikonur. After that, the number of spacecraft of the British company in orbit increased to 322. In total, the OneWeb project provides for the creation of an orbital constellation of 600 satellites. It must provide all inhabitants of the planet with high-speed Internet access.
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