Russia’s Soyuz launches Pion-NKS naval intelligence satellite

Russia launched the first satellite for its long-delayed next-generation ocean reconnaissance system on Friday. The Pion-NKS No.901 satellite lifted off atop a Soyuz-2-1b carrier rocket from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Northern Russia at 22:50 Moscow Time (19:50 UTC). Pion-NKS is part of the wider Liana program, aimed at replacing the Soviet-era signals intelligence satellites which Russia previously used to collect and monitor radio signals from low Earth orbit. More

(Source: NASASpaceFlight.com - Jun 26)