Source: Xinhua

02-01-2009 12:28

MOSCOW, Jan. 30 (Xinhua) -- Russia on Friday launched its first carrier rocket of 2009 to send a research satellite into space, the Itar-Tass news agency reported.

Krasnov also said Roscosmos would propose extending the use of the International Space Station (ISS) until 2020. The orbital assembly of the ISS began with the launch of the U.S.-funded and Russian-built Zarya module from Kazakhstan on November 20, 1998. Zarya, which means 'dawn,' was the ISS's first component.
Krasnov also said Roscosmos would propose extending the use
of the International Space Station (ISS) until 2020. The orbita
 assembly of the ISS began with the launch of the U.S.-funded
and Russian-built Zarya module from Kazakhstan on November 20,
1998. Zarya, which means 'dawn,' was the ISS's first component.

The Cyclone-3 carrier rocket, with a Coronas-Photon satellite atop, blasted off from the Plesetsk space center in northwest Russia on Friday afternoon, Alexei Zolotukhin, chief of the space force information and public relations service, was quoted as saying.

The Coronas-Photon satellite will be used to study the internal structure of the sun and the nature of solar flares.

The launch, initially scheduled for Thursday, was delayed until Friday for technical reasons.

The Cyclone-3 three-stage liquid-propellant rocket was developed in 1977 on the basis of the intercontinental ballistic missile R-36. A total of 121 launches of the rocket have been carried out during flying tests and in regular operations.

The Russian space agency is planning to carry out 39 space launches this year from its Plesetsk space center and the Baikonurspace center in Kazakhstan.

 

Editor:Yang Jie