Second Soyuz Rocket launched from Vostochny spaceport

The launch of the Soyuz-2.1b space rocket with a Meteor-M 2.1 spacecraft and the secondary payload of 17 satellites was carried out as scheduled at 8.41 a.m. Moscow Time (5.41 a.m. GMT) today, a spokesman for the Roscosmos space corporation said.

This was the second launch from the newest Russian spaceport. The first launch from Vostochny was carried out on April 28, 2016, when the Soyuz-2.1a carrier rocket with three satellites blasted off.

The Fregat upper stage separated from the third stage ten minutes after the launch and will continue putting the satellites to the designated orbits, TASS reported.

Roscosmos said that the satellite Meteor, launched from the Vostochny spaceport on Tuesday, is absent from the designated orbit and there is no contact with it.