June 27 2011

Russia successfully launched a Cosmos class military satellite on Monday, said spokesman of the Russian Space Forces Alexei Zolotukhin.

A Soyuz-U carrier rocket carrying the military satellite blasted off from the Plesetsk Plesetsk space center in northern Russia at 20:00 Moscow time (1600 GMT), Zolotukhin said.

"The rocket put the Cosmos series military satellite into the designated orbit at 20:08 Moscow time (1608 GMT)," he added.

The spokesman also said the launch of the Soyuz-U carrier rocket "was the first time for this type of rockets" in this year.

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

The satellite, Cosmos-2472, is a new member to a Russian network of about 60-70 military reconnaissance satellites.