On Friday, December 27 Russian Aerospace Forces Rokot/Briz-KM rocket has made its final launch Friday, with an early-morning liftoff from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome carrying three Gonets-M communications satellites. The Rokot light-class LV with the “Gonets-M” communications spacecraft unit and the Blitz-M alignment spacecraft was launched from the launch pad No.3 spot No.133 of the State test Cosmodrome of the Ministry of defense of the Russian Federation (Plesetsk Cosmodrome) in the Arkhangelsk region by the combat crew of the Aerospace Forces.
All the pre-launch operations and the launch itself was carried out as planned. Ground means of Aerospace Forces carried out control of the launch and flight of LV. This is the second launch of light-class “Rokot” LV from Plesetsk Cosmodrome in 2019. The previous launch of “Rokot” LV from the Northern Cosmodrome was successfully carried out on August 30, 2019. In total, during 2019, the combat crews of the Aerospace Forces conducted 8 launches of space missiles from Plesetsk – two launches of the “Rokot” light class and six launches of the “Soyuz-2” light and medium classes.
The “Rokot” light-class LV was created as part of a conversion program based on the RS-18 ICBM being decommissioned. LV consists of a block of accelerators in the transport and launch container, including the first and second stages, and the space head part, consisting of the upper stage “Briz-KM”, the head fairing, the transition system, the alternate compartment and the payload compartment. The first launch of LV “Rokot” took place from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome on May 16, 2000. In total, during this period, 31 launches of the “Rokot” LV were carried out from the cosmodrome, which put about 70 spacecraft of various purposes into orbit.
Russian Aerospace Forces Rokot Conducts Final Launch Carries 3 Gonets-M Satellites
