April 22, 2021
Categories: Russia

The Soyuz-2.1b launch vehicle with the Fregat upper stage and 36 OneWeb communications satellites was rolled out from the Assembly and Test Facility. The launch vehicle was installed on the launch pad of the Vostochny Сosmodrome, the launch is scheduled for Monday, April 25, at 22:14 UTC (April 26, at 01:14 Moscow time).

Pre-launch activities are carried out under the contracts of Glavkosmos (a subsidiary of the State Space Corporation Roscosmos) with the European launch services provider Arianespace, which provides and operates the launch of OneWeb spacecraft with the use of the Soyuz launch vehicle, and the Russian-French company Starsem. The work with the foreign customers is carried out by the representatives of other Roscosmos enterprises: Progress Space Rocket Center, Lavochkin Association, and TsENKI.

Now, the specialists at the spaceport are performing the final technical operations. The pre-launch tests of Soyuz-2.1b systems are being conducted, and the interfaces between the on-board instruments and ground equipment are being checked. This launch will be the third fully commercial launch of spacecraft from Vostochny. The previous two launches were also for the OneWeb mission.

Now, the fleet of the OneWeb satellites in the low Earth orbit amounts to 146 spacecraft, and hundreds more are to be launched. The upcoming launch should bring the number of OneWeb spacecraft in orbit to 182. OneWeb low Earth orbit satellites are designed to provide consumers on the ground with high-speed Internet.

More from this category:
June 4, 2013

According to RIA Novosti, European specialists may develop navigation and collision avoidance systems for Russian landing probe “Luna-Resource”, – Thomas Reiter ESA manned programs director…

full story
March 3, 2016

On March 3, 2016, GCTC officially  saw off the members of prime and back-up ISS-47/48 mission crews to Baikonur. The prime crew comprises Roscosmos cosmonauts…

full story
February 11, 2015

Under the contract with European Arianespace Company Russia will deliver 13 Soyuz-ST boosters to be launched from Kourou spaceport in French Guiana by 2019, –…

full story
August 24, 2020

The preliminary date of the first launch of satellites of the Russian low-orbit communication system “Gonets” on the Soyuz-2.1b carrier rocket has been determined, the…

full story
April 28, 2014

Proton-M booster with Kazakh KazSat-3 communication satellite and Russian Luch satellite was successfully launched from Baikonur spaceport on Monday, – Roscosmos representative reported. The booster…

full story
November 27, 2019

The manned spacecraft “Soyuz MS-16” was delivered to the Baikonur Cosmodrome for pre-flight preparation. Specialists of enterprises of the Russian rocket and space industry unloaded…

full story
July 24, 2024

The American non-profit organisation Space Foundation has presented a report on the state of the global space economy. According to experts’ calculations, 7.4% more money…

full story
November 13, 2014

Baikonur spaceport saw traditional flag-raising ceremony symbolizing the beginning of final preflight preparations. ISS-42/43 mission crew members raised the flags of the countries taking part…

full story