Glonass navigation system beefed up with Soyuz launch

Another spacecraft to reinforce Russia's fleet of Glonass navigation satellites lifted off Monday from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome on a Soyuz booster. The 3,119-pound Glonass M satellite launched at 0826 GMT (3:26 a.m. EST) on a Soyuz 2-1b rocket. It was 12:26 p.m. Moscow time. The three-stage booster finished its job in less than 10 minutes, leaving a Fregat upper stage to propel the Glonass payload into a 12,000-mile-high orbit with three engine firings. More

(Source: Space Flight Now - Nov 29)