Russia to launch SA spy satellite - DA

The Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) had announced that a Kondor-E "earth observation satellite" would be launched on Thursday (December 18) from its Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, Democratic Alliance MP David Maynier said in a statement. "We cannot be sure, but the Kondor-E satellite, which will be launched at 6.55pm SA time, may be defence intelligence's secret Russian Kondor-E 'spy satellite', developed under 'Project Flute'." Maynier said the satellite reportedly arrived at the cosmodrome on December 1 "for pre-launch processing". Since then, it had been tested, loaded with propellant and transferred to site for final preparations. More

(Source: Independent Online - Dec 18)