Russia launches key satellite on second attempt

Russia on Saturday successfully launched a satellite vital to the deployment of its own navigation system after the failure of an earlier attempt prompted the Kremlin to sack two top space officials. The Federal Space Agency said in a statement that the high-tech Glonass-K satellite reached its intended orbit about four hours after blasting off on top a Soyuz-2 rocket from Russia's northern Plesetsk launchpad. "We have established and are maintaining steady telemetry communications with the space craft," a spokesman for the defence ministry's space forces told the Interfax news agency. "The on-board systems of the Glonass-K satellite are functioning normally," the official said. More

(Source: AFP - Feb 26)