Sept. 30

Russia successfully launched a military satellite, said spokesman for Russian Space Forces Alexei Zolotukhin.

A "Molniya-M" carrier rocket blasted off from the Plesetsk space center in northern Russia at 9:01 p.m. Moscow time (1701 GMT) , carrying a military satellite of "Cosmos" series, said the spokesman, adding that the launch took place in normal mode.

The launch carried out by a team from Russian Space Forces was supervised by Space Forces Commander Oleg Ostapenko.

The satellite was scheduled to enter its orbit at 9:57 p.m. Moscow time (1757 GMT), said Zolotukhin. It would enhance Russia's orbital group for military purpose, he added.

"The launches of Molniya carrier rockets from the Plesetsk space center started out in 1970 and 229 such launches have been made to-date, thus confirming the reliability of this technology," said the spokesman as quoted by the Itar-Tass news agency.

It was the last launch of a carrier rocket from the Molniya-M family, he said, adding that the Molniya-M rockets were to give way to Soyuz-2 and Angara rockets.