Glonass navigation satellite launched by Soyuz rocket

Russia launched a Glonass navigation satellite Saturday on top of a Soyuz rocket, releasing the spacecraft into orbit about 12,000 miles above Earth three-and-a-half hours later. The Soyuz 2-1b rocket, crowned with a Russian Fregat upper stage, lifted off at 1716 GMT (1:16 p.m. EDT) from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome about 500 miles north of Moscow. After a nine-minute ascent powered by the Soyuz rocket's three kerosene-fueled core stages, a Fregat upper stage fired its engine three times to boost the mission's Glonass navigation payload into a 12,000-mile-high orbit. More

(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jun 15)